


Bound by Silver

by Unusual_Table



Series: Violet and Stone [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alpha Oh Sehun, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Character Death, Child Abuse, Dark Magic, Death, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Friendship, Genocide, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, It can get a little rough but I swear there's a moral to the story, M/M, Magic, Mild Gore, Mpreg, Omega Byun Baekhyun, Omega Kim Jongin | Kai, Omega Verse, Physical Abuse, Slavery, Sorcerers, Spiritual themes, Terminal Illnesses, Torture, Trauma, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 84,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23604130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unusual_Table/pseuds/Unusual_Table
Summary: Master had three simple rules for Wolf to follow. The first was to never go beyond the fence. The second was to never speak to lodgers. The third was to never respond to the howl of the Mountain Spirits that could be heard on nights of the full moon.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun & Kim Jongin | Kai, Kim Jongin | Kai & Lee Taemin, Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun, Lu Han/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Series: Violet and Stone [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826386
Comments: 161
Kudos: 120





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello humans,
> 
> I am once again getting into the bad habit of multitasking and migrating my old fic, Bound by Silver, from its unlisted incomplete purgatory on AFF to here where all chapters will be published. Currently unemployed and in quarantine due to COVID-19, I finally have a chance to pick up my writing hobby for the first time in around three years!
> 
> Way back when, I started this ABO story a bit hesitantly because what I had planned was a bit atypical for what people usually have for this sort of au. While there are romantic connections, romance is not the focus. This story is, at least in my opinion, carried by friendship... for better or for worse. 
> 
> With that being said, welcome new and old readers! Thanks for giving this story another shot. I hope you enjoy Wolf's journey! 
> 
> As usual, this story is not for sensitive audiences.
> 
> Act I: The Crime | Act II: Palos | Act III: Good Men | Act IV: Lost Boys | Act V: Kingdom

“Bye bye puppy,” the little girl said. She whispered the nickname she'd given him upon arrival with the utmost affection. Wolf’s frown matched her own because tears were quickly springing in her eyes as she reached to scratch the back of his head.

“That’s enough, Nana. Get away from it.”

“But I wanna puppy!” Her father’s eyes narrowed as he walked forward to drag the girl away.

“How many times do I have to tell you that it’s not a puppy? If that wolf were untamed it would’ve eaten you alive!” At that the girl started to cry but soon she was out of sight, the front door to Evergreen Inn shut behind her.

Wolf sat kneeling on the floor where the little girl had left him, confused by what her father's words had suggested, until Master returned who regarded him with a short glance before going behind the bar to clean the dishes the family had used during breakfast.

“Go tidy them rooms, boy. I saw smoke comin’ up not too far from here only yesterday. We might be gettin’ more lodgers sooner than usual.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Wolf sprang into action, bare feet scurrying up the wooden stairs, the silver cuffs around his skinny wrists and ankles clanking against them when he slightly tripped just before getting to the top, the one around his neck pressing into his skin in a way he could only call natural.

That night, Master feasted on the meat the lodgers had left behind as payment, cutting off a portion for Wolf to eat. It had been a good season thus far for business and even though Master’s face remained stern, Wolf knew he was happy, so happy that he didn’t mind so much when he abandoned utensils in favor of devouring the meat with his hands, a habit he’d never quite been able to get rid of.

Just like every night, Wolf cleared the dinner table while Master read a book by candlelight and once Wolf’s work was finished, Master let him lay on the floor and began reading passages aloud about churning seas, towering cities, and the Royal Hunters who brought peace to their land by taming the Wild Beasts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	2. ACT I: THE CRIME - CHAPTER I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Master had three simple rules for Wolf to follow.

The first was to never go beyond the fence. It could’ve seemed restrictive especially because the forest expanded so far and wide. The peaks of mountains in the distance pierced the clouds and from their small inn the ground sloped more gradually much further below, but Master’s land was vast enough for Wolf to run across the grass and through the trees, the silver around his ankles, wrists, and neck glimmering in the sunlight as he blew fluffy dark brown hair away from his eyes with laughter on warm summer days.

The second was to never speak to lodgers. This rule was a bit unfortunate because some people who came their way looked like they had many stories to tell and Wolf would always want to ask for one before bed. Master kept a sharp eye on him though and most lodgers came and went without knowing that he had the ability to speak at all. Sometimes Master was more strict with this rule. Some lodgers came who he was not even allowed to set eyes on. He’d spend the days of their occupancy in the shed or out on the grounds working leaving Master to do most of the house chores on his own.

The third and final rule was the strangest of all and that was to never respond to the Mountain Spirits. Late at night, often under the weight of the full moon that always brought unbearable pain to Wolf’s body, howling would come from the distance perhaps only once or twice a year. Master said it was the song of danger and the pull he felt towards the call would destroy him if he gave into it. So on full moons he would stay in his shed wiping away silent tears as his eyes glowed silver, a trait Master said made him unique.

“I saw p-paper in the creek today,” Wolf said just after supper.

He still nursed a cup of tea in his hands but his unsteady grip and wavering voice were all too noticeable to Master who sat across from him idly sharpening his hunting knife. “So,” he continued to prevent Master from saying anything about it, “I hope those people you saw up there are carryin’ paper.” Wolf swung his legs back and forth that were still too short to reach the floor. “And the colored chalks too!”

A small smile appeared on Master’s face at that but it disappeared when Wolf grimmaced, the cup he held thunking against the table as he balled his hands into fists.

“Go get ready to turn in for the night, kid.”

Wolf lowered his eyes, tongue dragging inside his mouth across his gums that pulsed uncomfortably. The slight irritation under his skin from the night before would cripple him tonight, the sky already darkening to give way to this cycle’s full moon.

“I’m fine.”

Master sighed and brought his chair around the table to sit next to him. The older man’s large body was intimidating to some, but to Wolf it was a source of warmth as he leaned into his side, wincing when the pain in his bones suddenly increased.

“You’re not still afraid of a little storm, are ya? Can’t go walkin’ around callin’ yourself a man when you still a kid afraid of thunder.” Wolf furrowed his eyebrows but the heavy downpour from outside the window still managed to hold some of his attention. “Go get changed for bed and you can sleep in my room instead of the shed.”

Master was never one to be loud with his emotions. He’d never shout or laugh until he cried. He’d never smother him with hugs or ruffle his hair like some lodgers did who became fond of Wolf’s almost constant state of awe either, but the squeeze Wolf felt on his shoulder and the way Master gently took the cup from his hands told him that, as always, Master was worried for him even if he poked fun at his fears.

“Thanks, Papa,” he said, quickly jumping away.

It was a name he liked to use that he’d heard in stories even though it made Master uneasy sometimes like he was afraid someone would overhear. For reasons he only had a vague understanding of, the name “master” was more distant than “papa” and Master insisted that it was never good to seem attached to things and to avoid that it was best to use the most neutral name possible.

Master called him Wolf because it was an ancient word for “moon,” and on nights like tonight his eyes reflected the moon even if it also brought him pain. Meanwhile, “master” meant owner and Master owned their little inn. When lodgers came, sometimes he heard them call him Jin and Master would respond to that odd sound, that unfamiliar word.

But in his mind, on rainy nights, and on days when he was sick or hurt or sad, he would call Master “Papa” because that word meant so many things to the characters in the stories he was told. To Wolf, “Papa” meant the stack of books on the lounge table readily accessible for bedtime. “Papa” meant the bowl of fresh water that would appear in his shed everyday. “Papa” meant waking up with extra blankets tucked around him in the winter, snowball fights, and summer hikes. Because of this it ultimately didn’t matter what they called each other, because something so simple as a name couldn’t change everything he’d experienced at Evergreen Inn with Master. Master was his entire world in a life where other faces came and went, spending a night or two or several only to pack up and disappear into the woods to never visit again.

Shortly after Master dismissed him, Wolf collapsed onto the pile of pillows and blankets set up in the corner of Master’s room beneath the window, immediately curling into himself even though he knew it wouldn’t help to stop the most obvious stabbing pain in his head, his jaw, his spine, and his cramping hands and feet.

He hated this part about him, hated his illness that made some lodgers avoid him. Why wasn’t Master this way? Why wasn’t anyone he’d ever seen in his entire life this way? If he didn’t have his silver cuffs to dull the pain, what would’ve become of him by now? All he could remember from his earliest days was the torture of full moons, the agony of his bones breaking like twigs on those long nights much to Master’s horror.

It wasn’t bad to that extent these days. Now he simply gritted his teeth as his body spasmed, neck bending awkwardly as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Everything was blurry and he had no sense of time passing. That’s what always caused the tears: the feeling that nothing came before this pain and nothing would come after it.

He vaguely noted Master attempting to comfort him, still not entirely used to seeing him like this because by the time the pain got this bad he was usually locked away for the night. Even though Wolf couldn’t focus on the man’s face, his sense of smell was heightened. Master’s scent was the strongest since it was his room but it was nothing compared to him actually being there, his skin emitting the smell of sweat, tobacco, and something unique only to him, his heart hammering in his chest with worry.

“Come on, kid. Come on. Get up. Can you stand?” He blinked rapidly when Master started patting the side of his face and groaned at the feeling of his insides twisting that cut off into a high-pitched whine. “You gotta go back to the shed. We got new lodgers. They can’t see you sleepin’ up here.”

It hurt being lifted. It hurt to move at all but his tongue was slack in his mouth as he turned his head to sniff against Master’s neck, the comforting scent making him slightly more aware of his surroundings. Heavy rain was pelting him the next moment, lightning flashing in the sky. Mud oozed between his toes when Master put him down in order to unlock the shed.

He kept his head down so as to not see the moon. Looking at the moon would only make everything hurt more. It would bring a burn to his throat urging him to scream with all the energy he had but he needed to stay quiet.

At that moment, louder than the pelting rain and the booming thunder, was the call of a Mountain Spirit so incredibly clear and so incredibly close that it was almost like he could reach out and touch it. His small body slumped until his face hit the muddy ground. Everything went black.

***

Wolf woke up covered in a mixture of water, dirt, and sweat. The familiar chill that settled over his body following full moons was heavy and itchy as he rolled off of the cloth-covered bed of hay to the dirt-covered wooden floor. The rich smell of earth below stirred him fully awake.

“Master?” he called out into the darkness but bit his tongue when the tips of his fingers smoothed across the inevitable bruising on his skin. He leaned back against his bed, sighing in an attempt to relax his sore muscles. He thought briefly of the cry of the Mountain Spirit from the night before and how powerful it had been. It made his heart race and his curiosity blossom but he contained it. Searching for the source of the Mountain Spirits was against the rules.

Even inside the dark shed he could tell it was early afternoon. It had a certain scent to it even in wake of the rain. Everything around him was clearly visible too: the bowl of water resting on a small step stool in the corner, the wall of tools Master stored, and the wooden crate that Master built for him to keep his clothes in, carved figurines of a Royal Hunter and a Wild Beast displayed on the ground next to it. Master would be almost blinded by the darkness in here with him. Master would also not be able to pick up the various smells around them or the sounds of animals up in the trees. He said such senses became weaker as one got older and that since his hair was now a stormy gray, in the darkness of the forest he enjoyed the company of a younger companion.

The arrival of dangerous lodgers had never overlapped with the full moon before but being locked away for the day allowing him to catch up on lost sleep and recover was a welcome coincidence. Still, it would be a long time until Master would bring him more food and water, always making sure the lodgers were out exploring the land or asleep before approaching him.

He bent forward onto his knees to reach across the small distance to grab his two figurines before sitting back in bed and laying on his side. The carvings had been gifted to him four years prior when he was seven by a woman who had spent an entire month at Evergreen Inn. The Royal Hunter had excited him instantly for the figure stood tall and lean, a sword hanging from its side and a rifle in its hand, its elegant cloak carved as if the wind pushed it gently.

The Wild Beast, however, had scared him at first even though Master said it was nothing to be afraid of. Its eyes were cut deeply so shadows formed on its face in the candlelight. Its teeth were sharp and menacing and even though it stood on four legs, its height challenged that of the hunter.

“ _People are afraid of things they don’t understand_ ,” Master had told him one night. “ _You enjoy the stories, but if I got a chance to go back in time an’ understand those creatures, I’d do it in a heartbeat_.”

The figure didn’t frighten him as much anymore. The Wild Beasts were all locked away in a distant land, frozen in time, and couldn’t come back from a simple carving.

Before long he was hungry, tired, and felt dirty but resigned himself to using his imagination to bring his toys to life until sleep took him again and night fell.

***

“ _This is our woodchopping song,_

_Chopping, chopping, chopping logs._

_This is our woodchopping song,_

_Count until the work is done._

_One, two, three, four,_

_Chopping, chopping all night long._

_Five, six, seven, eight,_

_Is all of our woodchopping done?_ ”

With Wolf’s final swing, his voice going a little sharp at the effort of singing, a strong gust of wind roared through the trees, the mist left by the rain still dampening his skin and sending a chill to his bones. One look at the night sky showed that it wouldn’t be much longer until daybreak so he loaded up the wheelbarrow as much as he could before heading back towards the inn, keeping his eyes and ears open for any sign of movement from inside the house as he stacked everything up as quietly as possible where the previously depleted pile of firewood was located.

He smiled at the sight of food left in a small pan for him upon returning to the shed, kicking off the boots he hated wearing in the first place and taking the chance to stretch out his legs and spread his toes while leaning over the meal with a tired grin.

“Thank you, Papa,” he said to himself, his own voice feeble against the wind that blew harshly, the walls of the shed creaking as it picked up until he heard a snap and a crash from outside.

Wolf licked his lips, hands still hovering above his dinner while he debated whether or not to check on what had been blown over. Everything Master owned was usually tied down pretty well but there were countless times when lodgers would lazily secure the items on their wagon that never stood a chance on stormy nights. Master expected him, in a situation like this, to make the grounds tidy overnight and to complete his various outdoor chores. To wake up to find the new lodgers’ belongings spread out all over the ground and covered in dirt could make both the lodgers and Master very unhappy.

With a sigh he picked himself off the floor, foregoing putting his boots back on since checking on the wagon wouldn’t take too long.

Just like he expected, one of the flaps on the wagon had broken loose from the harsh wind knocking over only a small crate that hadn’t broken. He rushed to the shed and used a knife to cut off a section of rope and scurried back across the grass, checking twice to make sure no candlelight shown through any of the inn’s windows.

The wagon wasn’t as big as some Wolf had seen recently. Master said since word spread about the roads in their area becoming better as civilization was free to spread out further and further away from Nafatar, the capital city, larger groups would be able to make the trip up into the hills and mountains. Compared to the large covered wagons Master said were typically seen travelling the flatlands, this wagon was fairly basic with only one horse necessary to pull it although the lodgers brought two with them. 

“Hey girl,” Wolf said, reaching up to pet one of the horses, giggling a little bit when the horse nuzzled his hand.

He clenched the piece of rope he brought with him between his teeth in order to pick up the fallen crate but when he balanced it in one arm when pushing the flap of the tarp away he nearly screamed, gagged by the rope as the crate crashed to the ground once again.

Beneath the tarp and locked within a cage was a boy who looked to be only a few years older than himself crouching completely bare, the all too familiar bands of silver secured around his ankles, wrists, and neck. His black hair was wildly strewn around his face, his pale skin caked with dirt. Bruising littered his skin in the wake of the full moon, his right arm bent awkwardly as if it were broken.

Wolf stood rooted to the spot trying to make sense of what he was seeing when the caged boy bared his teeth and _growled_ at him, his eyes flashing yellow.

The rope fell from his mouth and without thinking he ran, ignoring the sun just making its presence known over the horizon, ignoring the rules that he had lived by perfectly his entire life when slipping through the side door of the inn, running up the stairs with footsteps not as quiet as he thought they were before flinging open the door to Master’s bedroom, trembling and eyes wide open with confusion.

“There’s a boy! In their wagon!”

Master was already awake, pulling up his suspenders to get ready for the day. His shock did not have time to turn to anger before Wolf shut the door behind him, panic raising the volume of his whispers.

“He… he hasn’t got any clothes! Why do they leave him out there without any clothes?”

Master grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back into the corner of the room, face stern as he lowered himself to Wolf’s eye level.

“Listen here. Don’t go near their wagon _ever_ again. And don’t come runnin’ in the house. It’s against the rules.”

“But… b-but he _looks_ like me, Papa. He’s sick like me. Why is he like me? How is that possible?”

Wolf had no time to react when the door to Master’s room was kicked open and he was quickly moved behind Master’s form, the man’s hand coming down to cover his mouth.

From behind Master he could still see the large, dark silhouette of a man come through the doorway, his big hands covered with leather gloves, gray fur draped over his shoulders, silver glistening at the tips of his heavy boots. The lodger he was never supposed to see stared right into his eyes.

“Well look what we have here,” the man said with a smile. “An omega.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading through the first chapter. I hope you liked it!
> 
> Feedback and kudos are always welcome eheh... *has no shame*
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	3. ACT I: THE CRIME - CHAPTER II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

There were three of them, three lodgers that sat staring at him as he poured water from the pitcher into their cups for breakfast. It was nothing Wolf hadn’t done before. This was his job for whenever regular guests stayed with them but the way Master had dragged him out back after he’d broken the rules had frightened him, his stern words and directions cutting through the otherwise peaceful air of the morning.

_Don’t look them in the eye._

_Don’t answer their questions._

_Don’t let them touch you._

_Don’t be alone with them._

Wolf repeated the directions over and over again in his head, hands still shaking by the time he got to Master’s seat, the old man doing nothing to acknowledge him.

“So how old is it?” the first man he had seen that morning asked while he walked quietly over to the counter in the kitchen to bring out servings of soup, beans, and bread. He was extraordinarily tall and big-boned. His scraggly hair travelled down to form a thick beard and a cloak of gray fur lay draped over his body.

“Eleven,” Master responded.

“And by winter’s end?”

“Twelve.”

The man stopped speaking when Wolf walked to set down his meal, his hand coming up to close around his small wrist, thumb sliding over the silver band. His hand was large, cold, and deformed with dark, puncture-like scars dotted diagonally from the knuckle of his pinky to the base of his thumb like the way a dog’s teeth would mark a slab of meat.

“And how long has it been bound?” Wolf tensed under the touch, gently trying to pull his hand away while bending his body into a polite bow, the man tightening his grip momentarily before finally letting him go. Wolf’s eyes raised just enough to see his lips curl into a smile. He did not like the way the man was referring to him but Master did nothing to argue for gentler words.

“Since shortly after birth.”

“You got papers to prove that?”

The second man Wolf came to was lazily drumming his fingers on the table. His long, black hair reached past his shoulders with some strands coming dangerously close to dipping into the soup as he bent forward to eat. It hung in greasy clumps taking on a shine similar to the black leather vest that wrapped around him tied neatly all the way up to his long neck, his cotton tunic that at one point must’ve been white had been transformed by earthy stains and the deeply injected scent of coal.

“I do.”

“Show them to me.”

“He’s not for sale.”

Wolf almost stumbled at Master’s words, the third man who was much younger than the previous two, perhaps in his late teens, not seeming to mind at all before he began messily devouring the meal despite the small spill. His fingernails were yellow and cracked, an odd mixture of blood and a yellowish substance oozing from them. Earlier he’d noticed that his eyes were bloodshot, his hair thinning, and his skin almost as pale as the moon itself.

“Anything can be sold for the right price, Jin.”

Wolf thought of the boy the lodgers had locked up in their wagon and how sick he must be for his bones to still break under the pressure of the full moon. When he finally got to Master’s seat again, he tried to catch his attention. He wanted to tell Master that he was not as sick as that boy so that he would not sell him to these men who were perhaps travelling to the hospitals they had far away in the capital. Even if full moons were painful, he would rather experience the pain than be separated from Master at the hands of lodgers who didn’t seem to care very much for their patients at all but Master’s hand quickly shooed him away.

“Wolf, you’re dismissed.”

He stiffened, hands holding the serving tray close to his chest. For meals he usually waited in the corner for everyone to finish. Sometimes a guest would come over and give him food right off their plate but when Master shot him an irritated look when he reached out to tug his sleeve to make sure he’d heard the order correctly, he scurried back into the kitchen to put away the empty tray.

Everything about the situation was odd. Master hardly ever grew angry with him and his eyes had never once been so cold when addressing him. Then again, Wolf had never broken a rule before. It was a split second decision to peek back into the dining room instead of continuing through the kitchen and out the back door but as soon as a small part of his body was visible through the archway, Master’s head snapped around to glare at him, the look melting away the last part of him that held back the fear from stabbing into his heart, the fear that told him that Master might want to get rid of him after all.

“I SAID GET OUT, BOY, BEFORE I PUT YOU TO THE CANE!”

***

Wolf quickly closed the door of the shed behind him, stepped over his untouched dinner that still rested on the floor next to neatly placed boots, and crumpled into bed. In his entire life Wolf could never recall Master in such a state of anger especially in the presence of company which just made everything worse than it already was. For only breaking one rule, one of Master’s biggest rules, there was already talk of selling him like a bag of seeds, a roll of cloth, or a common tool.

He thought of the words that man had said, his eyebrows as thick as the gray fur he wore.

_Omega._

There were many words Wolf knew he had yet to hear in his lifetime. Most words he would learn through the stories Master read to him and some words he’d overhear lodgers say that Master would later explain and define for him but in Master’s anger he hadn’t answered his question about what an omega was or what it meant. He didn’t answer why the boy he had seen was kept that way, caged like the injured birds they once cared for before Master got fed up one day and tossed them into the fire. All he knew was that the boy was sick just like him and the boy was brought by the lodgers who he was never supposed to see and that those same lodgers wanted to take him from the person his entire world revolved around all for breaking one rule, all for being like the boy who had probably been turned away similarly from some other cabin further up the mountain.

“I didn’t mean it,” he muttered to himself, too upset to look at the cold pan of food. “I promise I didn’t mean to be bad, Master.” Even though he whispered into the darkness, part of him hoped that if he closed his eyes tight enough and wished hard enough, Master would feel the meaning of his words even from within the warmth of Evergreen Inn. “I’ll sleep outside on full moons. I’ll sleep in the forest. I won’t make a sound ever again. I won’t break a rule ever again. I… I… p-promise I’ll be good.”

It felt like the entire world was shattering around him even with just the thought of being tossed away and it took a hand pressing against the arm already held up over his mouth to keep his crying as quiet as possible as his eyes wandered around the shed to gaze upon all of the things master had given him either made from scratch or bartered for when the rare merchant would pass through.

He was lucky in his foolishness that when he opened the door of the shed in broad daylight, no one was around to see. Bringing only his favorite blanket and his two wooden figurines with him, Wolf retreated out of the clearing deeper into Master’s property, too embarrassed by the way he was acting to worry about the off chance Master would check in on him during the day. He walked with his head down not bothering to look up at the beauty of the trees and the few remaining fiery red leaves that clung to their branches.

It did not seem like long before the tall, solid, wooden fence came into view shooting up as high as the canopy of some of the trees that surrounded him. No matter how Wolf looked at it, the fence was ominous due to its size. He trailed his small fingers over its curved, solid surface as he walked along it, feet stepping up on mossy rocks until the creek came into view at the very corner of Master’s property trickling in from upstream. It traveled for a short distance within the fence’s boundaries before exiting back into the unknown. 

Laying down, Wolf let the tune of his surroundings calm him, the softness of his blanket giving him comfort and the presence of his figurines giving him courage. Once again day turned into night, sleep escaping him despite his efforts. Damp leaves were moved by the wind over his body, one tickling his nose.

Wolf listened to the water running in the creek giving stones their glistening shine. Wolf watched the clouds through the wooden spider web above him staying completely still as if to prevent the clouds from catching him spying. He did not think of Master, the lodgers, or the boy. He thought of nothing until the sun melted over the mountains and the large shadow cast by the fence stretched to cover the earth.

***

It had been very quiet since the full moon. There was an eerie absence of the sound and smell of the smaller creatures Wolf was used to scurrying about the forest. The creek had been clear of tiny fish and in the rich soil even the insects were few and far between considering the temperature had yet to completely plunge for the winter.

Wolf could not hear anything other than the press of his bare feet over dead leaves as he headed back to prepare to work, the strange scent of the caged boy coming back in his memory through the shock he had felt when setting eyes upon him somehow overpowering the scent of large horses and meaty lodgers. The memory of his glowing yellow eyes made him shiver as he reached the treeline to the clearing surrounding the inn, the warm glow it usually emitted already extinguished for the night. Master had gone to sleep without speaking to him.

A sadness returned that made the darkness seem too dark, the silence too absolute. His toes curled in the grass of the clearing when a shift of the wind flooded the air with a smell separate from the nature that surrounded him but one that was still familiar and central to life. Caution rose from the ground like enchanted vines, twisting invisibly around his legs to keep him still.

The smell quickly grew stronger. It was the smell of blood drenched in Master’s scent.

_Don’t look them in the eye._

The back door to the inn only opened wide enough for the shoulder of a fur cloak to catch the moonlight when an icy feeling clenched around Wolf’s chest.

_Don’t answer their questions._

His eyes just managed to catch the glint of a bloodstained sword before he retreated back into the trees faster than he’d ever run before.

_Don’t let them touch you._

There was no gentle sound of singing birds of the fuzzy hoot of owls that were usually common in the night, no animals looking over him with their shiny black eyes.

_Don’t be alone with them._

The smell of blood followed him, the wind blowing the damp leaves that had stuck to his skin away as he ran. The sound of the lodgers running after him spurred him to run faster and he stumbled over a tree root and screamed when the bark of a tree ahead of him splintered and exploded with the sound of a shotgun ripping through the air.

_Anything can be sold for the right price._

Wolf willed himself to run faster, his eyes too dry from crying in distress all day to produce any more. When the ominous wall of the large fence emerged before him once again, the sound of the lodgers had faded considerably. They would not be able to see him from this distance.

_Omega._

Splashing without hesitation into the creek, Wolf made his way over to where the water slipped under the widest gap in the entire perimeter of Master’s property, the wood cut so that the water could still run freely down the mountain. He frantically dug away the soft soil and tiny rocks, heart skipping a beat when after clawing away for what seemed like days only allowed enough room for his arm and shoulder to slip beneath the running water to the other side of the fence, his fingertips feeling the air on the other side for the first time as his face pressed into the creek.

He shut his eyes tightly when, louder than his beating heart, someone stepped into the creek behind him and the next moment he was pulled out of the water, air flooding his lungs. He was eye to eye with the youngest lodger, his gaunt features looking frightening beneath the shrinking moon, the stars painting the background behind his head as if the entire sky was looking down on him, observing this moment as if looking into the past with a sigh.

The young man’s skinny hands and cracked fingernails reached out for him but hovered just an inch away from his face as if second guessing what he was doing. The small hesitation gifted Wolf the voice that had up until that point been lost to him.

“Please,” he said shakily, the first word he’d ever spoken to someone who wasn’t Master. “Please go away… please…” 

“Shh…” The lodger’s breath on his face was stale, his teeth rotting.

He flinched as the young man’s cold fingertips touched his cheek but almost instantaneously his eyelids grew heavy, body turning still in the shallow creek, his arm still bent awkwardly beneath the barrier. The adrenaline racing through his system faded away and his heart slowed to a comfortable hum.

It felt safe there all of a sudden beneath the stars. The lodger’s eyes sparkled similarly but perhaps that was only his imagination.

He was sleepy.

So he slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	4. ACT I: THE CRIME - CHAPTER III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Wolf’s forehead creased before he forced himself to open his eyes. The ground was shaking, his head lightly jostled by the constant movement. It accompanied the ringing in his ears and his fingers twitched as his foggy vision slowly cleared and he saw toes caked in mud, completely still, nails elongated, many cracked.

He blinked, his entire body feeling like it was being dragged back into a deep sleep against his will but as his focus on the toes went in and out, the ground continued to shake but the muscles in his arms momentarily regained some strength. He used it to shift his upper body a meager distance away from the toes. Even with his other senses still seemingly blocked, he could tell the toes did not belong to Master. He was not allowed to rest in the presence of someone who wasn’t Master.

_ Master. _

“Mmm…” The vibrations of his own voice made his stomach clench uncomfortably, but the sounds he made were still hardly audible above the ringing in his head. “Ma… Mas…”

Wolf slowly began to panic as his memories gradually came back to him, his body still refusing to move the way he wanted it to.

He had been running. Why did he run? He could almost feel the wind on his face again. It had been so dark. The inn had been dark except for that glint of metal. A sword. The blood.

_ Master. _

Master was in danger. Master was hurt.

“Pa… Papa?”

When the heaviness began to leave his body, Wolf shifted his head from the dirty toes to see metal bars. His stomach lurched again with the effort until a sickly substance worked its way up his throat. He coughed until it began sliding out of the corner of his mouth down to the shaking ground leaving an acidic taste on his tongue but his head became suddenly clearer, the heat building up under his skin he hadn’t noticed before turning instantly cold, the sounds and smells of everything crashing down on him. It was the sound of hooves splashing in puddles and of rough voices chatting leisurely. It was the smell of burning tobacco, of the wild boy, and the lodgers.

Wolf sniffed again, fear held at bay momentarily when his limbs spasmed and all hit what felt like metal bars all around him just like he saw when staring ahead. Master’s scent was near, cloaked in the smell of blood just as it had been in his memories.

_ Master. _

He used his returning strength to lift himself up into a sitting position, still too blinded by remnants of Master’s scent to internalize the small space he was enclosed in, the growling, wild boy pressed into the corner of the cage that could barely fit the both of them very comfortably.

The cage. The wagon. The wagon was shaking. The wagon was moving.

_ Omega. _

Wolf whined softly and again followed his nose, vision still adjusting, bumping into the bars behind him as he pointed his nose upward, searching up and up until he found it, staring until he understood the why and how and who.

He was silent at first, paralyzed by the way blood still dripped from where Master’s head had been severed from his body as it hung from a rope attached to the bars trapping him from above. Pale skin, open eyes, bloody mouth. 

Gradually, Wolf’s world began to fall apart piece by piece like the fiery leaves of autumn descending from their weblike, wooden homes from higher than Wolf could ever hope to reach down around the shed Master had built for him. Now, Wolf’s piercing screams did nothing to slow the melancholy journey of the leaves down to the mud they travelled over or stop the wheels that carried him further into a world he was not allowed to see from turning.

He begged until he could not, cried until he could not, and tugged at the bars around him until he could not, lamenting their presence as much as he had once stood in awe before Master’s tall, wooden fence.

Soon Wolf sat hunched in the opposite corner of the small cage from the wild boy; their skin now equally bare, hair equally tousled, bodies equally filthy. Master’s head swung between them, the glazed over look in his old eyes frighteningly similar to the wild boy’s faraway gaze.

Wolf let despair suffocate him back into unconsciousness but even in the world behind his eyelids, all the leaves had fallen.

***

The wagon came to a stop shortly after sunset. The lodger with long hair lifted part of the tarp, securing it to the top of the cage in order to reach into a sack to pull out three rabbits. He looked at the cage too, eying Master’s head that still hung above them.

“Seungchul!” he called out to the man who wore gray fur over his shoulders, “what do you want me to do with the head?”

“Put it in one of the spare crates before the birds get a whiff of it!” the man, Seungchul, shouted back with a gruff voice compared to the long-haired man’s higher tone. “The omega should understand who owns it by now!”

Wolf chose to not look at the man as Master’s head was taken down. The wild boy, who previously sat with his eyes closed, twitched at the sound of the cage opening, a low, almost silent growl escaping him. Wolf was still too frozen within himself to move, eyes set on the youngest lodger who sat slumped between two thick tree roots, violent coughs jerking his thin frame back and forth.

Seungchul went for a walk through the forest. Upon his return, supper was ready and the lodgers ate without looking at the cage even once though even the smell of rabbit stew, one of Wolf’s favorites, didn’t manage to revive his appetite.

He averted his eyes when Seungchul stood up and walked towards the cage, surprised and afraid when he opened it. Without a word he reached in and grabbed the wild boy by his still tender arm that had been broken during the full moon, dragging him from the cage and tossing him to the ground.

“I want another song tonight!” Seungchul announced, causing the other two men to look up from their meal. “A song and dance. Show me how you can move. Myunghwan says you’re very… flexible.” From near the fire, the man with long hair grinned. “I want to offer a high price for you with confidence!”

The boy was dragged towards the middle of the campsite and rose to his feet with some effort eventually swaying dangerously close to the fire. Silence overtook the small clearing before Wolf heard him speak for the first time.

“No,” the boy said, his voice sounding as dry as Wolf’s throat felt. “I only sing for my brother.”

Anger flashed across Seungchul’s face followed by a smirk as he reached up to his neck, tugging at the ties of his fur cloak before removing it from around his shoulders completely and tossing it into the dirt right in front of the boy’s feet.

“Sing,” he ordered again.

Wolf did not know the word to describe the expression on the boy’s face but he felt it. He felt the helpless ache, the anger, and sadness that the boy had masked until this point, his stoic facade broken.

Faster than any of the lodgers could react, the boy bent forward, grabbed the cloak, and tossed it into the fire and by the time Seungchul charged forward and grabbed the boy by his healing arm once again, the cloak was already engulfed in flames.

The sound of the boy’s arm breaking again sent shivers down Wolf’s spine, the onslaught of Seungchul’s fists quickly drawing blood while the other lodgers simply watched. It was a type of violence Wolf had never seen before and it was wrong, sickeningly wrong.

“STOP!” he shouted suddenly, throat burning with the effort. He moved to his knees and began tugging at the bars. “STOP HURTIN' HIM! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! IT’S NOT NICE!”

The boy’s body dropped to the ground once Seungchul let him go but part of him felt relief when he saw the subtle movements caused by the boy’s breathing. His attention was redirected when Seungchul laughed and with a jerk of his head, Myunghwan was stalking towards the cage, opening it, and dragging him to where the other boy had once stood in front of Seungchul. The man reached inside a pouch on his belt and pulled out a piece of paper that had seemingly long since yellowed, the ink on it somewhat faded.

“‘Property of Han Jinwoo,’” Seungchul read, “‘Royal Hunter of His Majesty Lee Junghoon, Division III, Non-User. Item description: Omega. Four pounds. Log code: 1484-297J. Binding method: Permanent aged binding onsite by Hwang Miyoung, Royal Hunter of His Majesty Lee Junghoon, Division III, Class II User.’”

Wolf stood still, the other boy’s unconscious body now slung over Myunghwan’s shoulder and being lowered into the entrance of what he assumed to be his tent.

“You have no clue what any of that means,” Seungchul spoke again. “See, Yoongi? Myunghwan? This is why I like it when my bitches are tamed!”

Wolf clenched his teeth, managing to find courage even in the way he was exposed in front of so many strangers in what little of Seungchul’s words he could make sense of.

“You called Master as Jin. Now you call him Han Jinwoo. Now you say Han Jinwoo is a Royal Hunter. Royal Hunters are heroes. Master is a hero. Master will come back for me 'cause heroes don’t lose. You are a bad man! You are cruel! You are a thief!”

Seungchul’s expression did not change as he walked beyond Wolf’s form to the fire letting the paper he had just read be consumed by the flames before he came up behind him, bending down over his shoulder and placing his hands on his hips.

“Your master was a retired old man who never amounted to anything.” Wolf tried to push away when the man’s nails dug into his bare skin. “Old Jin didn’t even know how to manage your upkeep. I know silver poisoning when I see it. It’s gonna drive your price down.”

Wolf couldn’t help but cry out when he was knocked to the ground, small rocks and sticks scraping his knees and elbows.

“Yoongi!” he shouted.

The youngest lodger responded only by slowly rising to his feet, only making it a few steps before Seungchul grabbed Wolf again, dragging him back towards the cage while Myunghwan closed the flap to his tent with the wild boy still inside after peeking out one more time, his chest bare where a tunic had been before. Seungchul’s grip on him only tightened the more he tried to pull away and he was hoisted back into the cage. Yoongi arrived by Seungchul’s side only when the older man slid the locks back into place.

“Suspend the inhibitor charm for the rest of the night and shut it up.”

The youngest lodger, Yoongi, stepped forward when Seungchul stepped back, and even with everything Wolf had seen, Yoongi’s presence still made him more wary than the others. When his thin fingers reached through the bars, Wolf moved back as far away as he could.

The young man’s shoulders hunched and when he coughed just as he had when sitting far away by the tree, small specks of blood sprayed from his mouth onto the wagon. Wolf avoided his stare when Yoongi lifted his head again but was unprepared for the young lodger’s voice to reach him.

“Come here,” he said softly, his tone warm and inviting. Wolf found himself blushing, the feeling of resting in front of a newly lit fireplace, his skin meeting Master’s favorite woven rug procured from far away enveloping him.

He laid down, back facing the lodger but he wasn’t really thinking about him. His mind was somewhere else that the terror of the day had made him forget. He loved it when Master let him sleep inside. He really did love that foreign rug.

The feeling of Yoongi’s fingers pressing into the back of his neck over the small engraving on his silver collar sent a tingling feeling down his spine. He could hear him whisper again, always incredibly soft.

The absence of recently regained warmth was the only warning he got before he was burning, the silver cuffs he’d always worn now sizzling against his skin like meat put over a fire. His throat constricted and he opened his mouth to let his screams free but no sound came out even though tears he didn’t know he had left in him streamed down his face.

He couldn’t breathe, the searing pain around his neck making his back arch, a pain that was hotter and sharper than the full moon. Wolf expected to see the worst, expected to see his skin peeling away, for his hands and feet and head to be completely burned off but there was no fire, there was no visible damage, just the torture of the silver that had always rested against his skin painlessly, the iron taste of blood in his mouth as his teeth sunk into his tongue.

***

Wolf woke with a sharp jerk of his body breathing heavily, unintelligible sounds pouring from between his lips, his body working to be heard even more when a hand clamped over his mouth, breath puffing against the side of his neck.

“If you are not quiet this time, you will be killed.”

He stopped struggling against the body slotted behind him trying to limit his movements, the scent of the wild boy for some reason calming him. The burning pain was gone and his voice had returned to him. It was daylight, the sun beating through the tarp, and the wagon was once again moving.

His knees were pressed almost into his chest. It was the only way both him and the wild boy could fit while laying down. Without thinking, he matched the pace of his breathing with the thumping of the heart pressed against his back. It was a long time before the boy spoke again.

“My name is Baekhyun.” Wolf shut his eyes tight, unable to stop his body from suddenly starting to tremble. “It’s ok,” Baekhyun whispered in his ears when he began softly crying out in distress. “It’s the silver. The instant effects of it will die off soon.”

Just like Baekhyun had told him, in the next hour or so of silence they spent lying wrapped around each other, the chills had subsided, the sparks of pain he thought he felt disappearing with it.

“I am Wolf,” he forced himself to say. “I wanna go home.”

“Wolf is not a name. Home was not a home. It was a cage, the same as this one.” He swallowed, the dryness of his throat still painful in its own way. His stomach growled.

“Wolf is an ancient word for moon and it is what Master calls me.”

“Your master is dead.”

“Not to me. He was… he was a Royal Hunter but he never told me. He will come back. He will save me.”

Baekhyun stayed quiet for a long time and Wolf assumed that he had drifted back off to sleep but when Baekhyun spoke again, his voice was laced with anger.

“The men who hold us captive are Royal Hunters just as your master was. They are no savior to you.” He shook his head, stilling for a moment when he accidently pushed into Baekhyun’s newly broken arm.

“Royal Hunters only capture Wild Beasts. The Wild Beasts are gone forever. Now they travel the lands helpin' people.” Baekhyun growled into his ear and Wolf closed his eyes in fear until he felt the boy calm down.

“Your master had two names: the name you called him and the name others called him. I am not your master so I will not call you Wolf. Choose a new name.” Wolf tucked his chin down, the tone of Baekhyun’s voice still unsettling.

“I dunno any names except for names that match to other faces, not mine.”

He sighed at the feeling of Baekhyun nuzzling his head into his neck, his body relaxing. Baekhyun inhaled his scent.

“My mother used to sing a song about a brave and stupid boy named Jongin. That is what I will call you.” Wolf sniffled.

“Is that… is that a name?”

“Yes.”

“Jongin…”

“Jongin,” Baekhyun repeated again with an exhale.

“I think Master would like it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last! We have the name of our protagonist.
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	5. ACT I: THE CRIME - CHAPTER IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Master always said that there had been a war. He said that people wrote many books about the war against the Wild Beasts. Not once, however, did Master ever read him a war story. Master always told him that he never wanted to teach him about war but Jongin still knew some things.

He knew that people died in war and for the King, young as he was at the time, to wage war against the Wild Beasts, Jongin assumed that they had been running through the streets of the big cities, tearing people apart with their claws and fangs. He imagined how scared the children in the stories Master did choose to read to him must have been like the one about the girl in the well or the boy in his treehouse.

He asked Master about death once. He asked about what happened to the thing inside rabbits that made them hop and the thing inside birds that made them chirp when they died and that’s when Master told him about spirits. He said that the thing that made people and animals move and think and breathe was called a spirit and that when people and animals died, their spirits went to God who had a home in the clouds - all except for the spirits of the Royal Hunters who would stand guard over civilization even after death protecting people just as they had done while living. Master said that Royal Hunters never truly died.

When he asked about the spirits of the Wild Beasts, Master had been silent.

“ _ Why would God give the Wild Beasts spirits if all they do is go killin’ people? _ ” he’d asked. “ _ God wouldn’t give them spirits if He really loved everybody they were killin’ _ .”

Master told him to never ask those questions again. Master said it wasn’t his place to answer.

The mornings in the wagon always started the same way, the shivers of the previous night’s punishment wracking Jongin’s body while Baekhyun held him in silence. The pain the lodgers inflicted on him could not make him say that Master was dead or that Master was not coming back for him, not when beneath the stars that observed his torture each night, he could feel Master’s spirit protecting him from anything that could truly harm him for Master’s spirit was one of a Royal Hunter. Master’s spirit would always protect and guide him.

Baekhyun did not agree or understand. Baekhyun spat the word  _ human _ as if it sat like rotting waste on his tongue. Baekhyun said that Master’s kindness was not kindness and that Master’s love was not love. Baekhyun called him a house pet, a degenerate, a body without a mind, and one that dirtied the title of  _ omega _ , a word Jongin assumed was used to refer to people with their illness of the moon. Baekhyun’s harsh words would eventually give way to a final plea for him to just say what the men asked when one of them would begin stalking towards the cage to fetch him each night right after sunset. Similar to Master, Baekhyun’s harsh words were the result of not wanting to showcase his worry or affections. Jongin knew that despite it all, Baekhyun did not like to see him in pain.

“Then why didn’t you sing for them?” he asked in frustration on the afternoon of the fourth day when Baekhyun’s words were cutting him deeper than usual; words that denied the existence of God’s eternal kingdom and the spirits that stayed to watch over the land of the living.

“That was different.”

Jongin tried to imagine how big the world was and how long the wagon would have to travel before they reached the edge of it and would have to turn around to head back towards Evergreen Inn. The early signs of winter seemed to be slipping away the further they travelled, the vegetation around them growing increasingly unfamiliar.

He had not been fed for the entire journey. They gave him water once when it felt like his insides were all turning to dust. Speaking at all expended the smaller amounts of energy he woke up with on each passing day, the burning pain of the silver that wrapped around him now leaving his flesh tender to the touch.

“How do you know it’s different?”

“His head swung before your eyes, Jongin. He will not come back to save you.”

“And your brother will?”

“No,” Baekhyun answered stiffly. “It is different because I do not fight for a monster who kept me enslaved for my entire life and filled my head with lies to make me docile. I fought for a loved one who was skinned alive before my eyes by the same men who took away the freedom I was born with.”

Baekhyun’s words did not make sense to him, words like  _ enslaved _ and  _ docile _ and  _ freedom _ . Instead he latched onto the words Baekhyun used to talk about his brother, their meaning clear.

“Why… why would they do that to him?”

“You know why.”

Jongin twisted his body to face Baekhyun whose eyes were once again filled with sadness and anger, his jaw clenched. The effort made him feel lightheaded. For days they had argued about his disobedience towards the lodgers and for days Baekhyun’s hateful words always circled around to the same point, one that Jongin refused to believe.

“Why do you keep saying that we ain’t human, Baekhyun? It’s strange and it scares me. Stop it.”

From the look on Baekhyun’s face, Jongin knew he must sound to the other as weak as he sounded to himself, his vision faltering, the muscles and fat disappearing from beneath his skin. Baekhyun pulled him a bit closer, the heat radiating from his body the only indicator that the same heat had been vanishing from his own.

“You fear the full moon because it brings you pain, Jongin. Your master told you that you are sick because the full moon hurts you. But this is not how I see the full moon. To me, the full moon is a calling. To me, the full moon demands that I show my true form in all its beauty, the form of a wolf. The wolf I speak of is not the name your master gave you. The wolf I speak of is no ancient word for moon. The wolf I speak of is, from what you’ve told me, similar to the creatures your master spoke about in his stories. The wolves I speak of are the Wild Beasts you claim are locked away forever in an unreachable place and the only purpose of the silver you wear is to keep you from transforming. It is there to keep you in your human form during the full moon against your body’s will. You are not sick, Jongin. You are tamed.”

Baekhyun’s arms tightened around him when he tried to pull away, the scent he seemed to emit always managing to calm him.

“But wolves are not the scary creatures you believe the Wild Beasts are,” he continued. “We are powerful, majestic, and beautiful. A weakness of ours is silver. The humans hunt us with it when they want to kill us or capture us. You are confused why the silver you wear burns you but I am confused as to why, for both of us, the silver touching us now brings us no pain at all until the humans want it to.

“Even with silver as our weakness, we are hunters, better than the humans are. We can hear and smell things better than humans. We heal faster too. Our bodies are naturally warmer. The two of us, we are omega wolves, the wolves that care and nurture and protect the young.” Baekhyun’s hand slid from his back, down the ladder of his ribs, and onto his flat stomach. “In here, as an omega wolf, you can create life, tiny pups to call your own. This is the power of the omega. This is how some humans make use of us so they won’t have to search deep in the forest to capture more.

“But my brother was not the same, Jongin. My brother was a beta wolf no older than you are, the type of wolf that Royal Hunters, including your master, were instructed to kill on sight. I knew this because it is what my parents taught me. I knew this so when we were captured, I tried to lie to them. I told them that my brother was an alpha but… they touched him in a way a pup like him should not be touched, and from the way his body rose, they could tell that he was no alpha, only a beta who was just starting out on the cusp of his road to maturity.

“The youngest of them, Yoongi, did something to make him change into his wolf form against his will. They used his fur to make Seungchul’s cloak. At first I sang for the humans because they said that they would burn my brother’s remains but it was only after I had finished that they showed me what his beautiful fur had been turned into. It was luck that Seungchul threw the cloak to my feet the other night. Now it is ash. I have nothing more to gain by defying them except death and I do not plan to die by their hands or by the hands of any human. I am simply buying more time while you are quickly tossing yours away because you believe the spirit of the man who very likely killed your family will protect you.”

Baekhyun held him close, each of his words whispered into his ear even as Jongin shook his head.

“You’re a liar.”

“I smell different to you, don’t I? My scent. You can tell that it’s different. You can tell that it’s different from every scent you’ve ever encountered. That is because we are of the same kind! The same rank! We are omegas, Jongin! You have been lied to not by me but by your master!”

Jongin separated his limbs from Baekhyun’s and curled up in the opposite corner of the cage as far as he could squeeze himself from the other boy, his head lowered and eyes closed.

“I don’t believe you.”

Baekhyun did not reach his hand out to him.

“Then you will die a fool.”

***

“Master will come back for me.”

Seungchul stared at him from where he sat on a log they’d pulled from the bushes just beyond the night’s small campsite. Yoongi had already retreated into his tent, his wet caughts audible even from inside the wagon as the day had worn on. Jongin knew that Yoongi’s physical state was the only reason he wasn’t already burning beneath his silver in the cage. Baekhyun, who would usually be dragged from the cage shortly before his torture began into Myunghwan’s tent for the night, was still locked away, staring at him from behind the bars.

“I’m beginning to think this dog isn’t worth it, Chul,” Myunghwan said from somewhere behind him. “We passed that village a while back now which means we’ll reach town soon. They don’t like bitches who don’t even have a crack in ‘em. It’s not even worth half as much as the other one and she’ll know it in a second too.”

Jongin sat hunched on the ground no longer able to stand at least on his knees as Seungchul crouched in front of him, his fingers coming up to comb through his hair with a gentleness that caught him off guard.

“Maybe the old man trained it differently,” Seungchul said quietly enough that Jongin doubted if he was even addressing the other lodger.

Seungchul then pushed him roughly until his back hit the ground, an irritated look on his face as his hand reached down to unfasten the ties of his pants. Jongin only looked on in confusion until he was flipped over onto his stomach, dirt immediately getting into his mouth, the feeling of Seungchul’s body lowering to press against his own making him squirm in discomfort.

“STOP!” Jongin looked up slightly in surprise at the sound of Baekhyun’s voice and when he did, Baekhyun was looking right back at him. “JONGIN! JUST SAY IT! PLEASE!”

He did not know the cause of Baekhyun’s outburst. On any other night, he would be in much more pain by now than he was currently. In fact, tonight he had yet to feel any pain at all. Still, Baekhyun’s shouts were unlike anything he had heard from the boy in their days together. That alone made fear once again emerge deep in his gut as his face was pressed into the ground, his leg hiked up roughly to the side, one of Seungchul’s hands gliding down his spine. He closed his eyes but did not say anything.

“MASTER! PLEASE!” Baekhyun shouted again, his focus now on Seungchul. “HE IS A CHILD! HE WON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE DOING TO HIM!”

Myunghwan walked from his place on the other side of the fire towards the cage, unlocking it and dragging Baekhyun to the ground before looking back at him just as he unsheathed the sword attached to his side and lowered it to Baekhyun’s neck, the faint sound of sizzling, burning, filling the campsite. Baekhyun’s flesh was really burning and he screamed.

Seungchul’s weight vanished from on top of him but he was pulled up to his knees seconds after, the large man’s lips pressing against his ear.

“Alright then. Tell me that your old master is dead, omega, or we’ll string that thing’s head up just like we did to him.”

_ Omega. _

Jongin’s heart was racing, his eyes glued to the sword that pressed against Baekhyun’s skin, the slight movement of Myunghwan’s hand causing crimson to slowly begin to run down his bare chest.

It didn’t make sense. Silver was supposed to help them. Silver was supposed to dull the pain of the full moon. But Myunghwan’s sword looked the same as the one Master had that he was never allowed to touch, hidden away deep within the inn.

Then there was Baekhyun’s scent. Baekhyun, no matter how cloaked in Myunghwan’s scent he always seemed to be,  _ did _ smell different. Something about his scent told him from the beginning that it was ok for Baekhyun to hold him closely. Something even about the way Baekhyun’s eyes glowed yellow the night he found him seemed familiar like he was drawn to it, drawn to that strange thing that had caused the yellowness in his orbs where his own eyes would usually glow silver.

He then looked at the silver glinting around Baekhyun’s neck and down to his wrists, the only other person he’d seen in his entire life that wore them the same as he did. He thought back to the night he had first broken the rules that led to Seungchul finding him, about how the word  _ omega _ had slipped from his lips as easily as it did now. He thought about how the word  _ omega _ did not seem to surprise Master at all.

Trapped in his thoughts, Jongin did not notice that everyone was looking at him until Myunghwan’s blade moved quickly through the air, slashing across Baekhyun’s chest, the sound and smell of skin burning filling the campsite as his body fell to the ground.

It was the smell of blood that wrapped around Jongin in that moment. Everything about Baekhyun’s blood, Baekhyun’s scent, said  _ home _ . Everything about it said that  _ home _ was going to die because of him. This  _ omega _ was going to die because of him. The silver of Myunghwan’s blade was different, somehow, than the silver they wore. Its purpose was to kill.

_ You are not sick, Jongin. You are tamed. _

_ The humans hunt us with it when they want to kill us or capture us. _

_ I do not plan to die by their hands or by the hands of any human. _

_ You will die a fool. _

“Master is dead.”

The words came forth without him consciously meaning for them to, the hot tears falling from his eyes even when it seemed like all the possible moisture had been drained from his body.

Baekhyun’s form was kicked aside, his blood sticking to Myunghwan’s boot. He was injured, but alive. He would heal if Myunghwan did not attack him again.

“Say it again.”

“Master is dead.”

Seungchul forced his head around until they were facing each other, a smirk on his face.

“Now call me master. Your new master.”

“You are Master. New Master.”

“You belong to me now. Say it again.”

“I belong to you now, Master.”

“Again.”

“I belong to you, Master…”

Later that night, Jongin was tortured with more fervor than ever before. 

Afterwards, Seungchul gave him a small piece of bread.

***

The wound across Baekhyun’s chest had hardly begun to heal by the time the wagon stopped within a small town two days later. He said it was because the wound was caused by a silver blade, true silver, the kind of silver he’d seen used on others like them;  _ wolves _ . He said that burns from silver naturally took longer to heal, almost as long as it did for a human to heal.

Jongin had still not come to terms with it. Jongin could not believe himself to be a Wild Beast. But the peeled and bleeding skin beneath his silver bindings told him that he was different and that he had been lied to. Baekhyun had been right about that.

When the tarp was lifted off the wagon, the street of a town with more buildings than Jongin had ever seen in his entire life standing side by side was revealed but he was not able to look for long before Myunghwan stood in the way to unlock the cage as he had so many times before. Just behind him along with Seungchul stood a woman who was short in stature but her expression fierce as her eyes trailed over his form.

“Stand them up for me,” she said and Myunghwan grabbed him by the hair harshly, Baekhyun landing on the ground beside him seconds later before they were both yanked to their feet.

For the first time in days, Jongin’s own nakedness bothered him because he stood bare in front of someone new, many more people walking down the street turning to glance at them as well. The air was warm, warmer than it had been up in the mountains and it seeped into the dirt beneath his feet. Dozens of smells assaulted his senses at once. Everything was so frighteningly different about this place and he found himself scooting closer to Baekhyun who stood tall with his usual stoic expression.

“Where did this one come from?” the woman asked, standing on the other side of Baekhyun. Her gloved finger first brushed across then dug into the rip in his flesh making him wince but he did not flinch away. “And why is it damaged?”

“Several months ago, rumors of a rare pack invasion began floating around the more isolated villages beyond the mountains,” Seungchul said. “It was small and broken up easily. We tracked this one down along with a beta. It put up quite a challenge… for a while. It isn’t the most obedient but the wild ones rarely are in the beginning. I trust it isn’t something you won’t be able to handle, Bo-ah.”

The woman nodded.

“It has nice hips,” she mused. “Age?”

“Fourteen. According to Myunghwan, its natural lubricants have already begun to form. If it doesn’t have its first heat this season, it surely will next year.”

“Alright,” Bo-ah said. “I’ll give you twelve thousand copper pieces. What about this other one? It looks… small… and its skin is in even worse condition than the other one. You people forget while you’re fooling around in the woods that I’m running a business here.”

Seungchul laughed nervously but moved to stand by her side, the two of them looking down at Jongin at once.

“Got it from some inn about halfway up the mountain. Owned by a retired hunter-turned-apologist. Nothing grand, but Myunghwan said there’s a small price on his head so we took it along with  _ this _ one.”

The word was accented by a kick to his shins but like Baekhyun, Jongin did his best to remain upright and stayed completely silent even when the woman grabbed his face and used two of her fingers to open up one of his eyes.

“Silver poisoning. Figures,” she mumbled. Jongin realized it was the same thing the lodgers said when first examining him as well, the meaning of the term still unknown to him. “How long has it been bound?”

“According to its old master, since shortly after birth. It’s eleven now but with the early binding its heat will be unpredictable. I’d say you can get a good five years of labor out of it still. A reasonable auction.”

The woman let go of him and backed away from where she had been observing the two of them before.

“Not good enough… though I’ll give you five thousand copper pieces. Its bone growth is too stunted for the fields and even a blind man wouldn’t buy it in the pleasure house. I can sell anything, but even this one won’t go for much. View taking this one off your hands as a favor later to be repaid… perhaps once you get the bounty for its master?” 

Seungchul shrugged.

“We’ll talk about it.”

The sound of wet coughing interrupted their conversation. Myunghwan had dragged the young lodger, Yoongi, from his place atop the wagon. Jongin had not set eyes on him in days but now the lodger he feared most could no longer stand, chunks of hair were missing from his scalp, and the whites of his eyes had turned from completely bloodshot to a murky yellow. On his sleeve, blood, mucus, and a black fluid had gathered as evidenced by the way he raised it to his mouth to shield another fit of coughing. Bo-ah groaned and pulled at her hair in annoyance.

“I hooked you rats up with one of the freshest users that has come through this town in years and you’ve completely ruined him! People don’t traffic his kind out here that often!”

“You mistook fresh for controlled,” Seungchul argued back. “You may have an eye for wolves but you have a long way to go when dealing in other trades, Bo-ah.”

Jongin’s fingers twitched by his sides. Seungchul had said it.  _ Wolves _ .

The rest of their argument was muted in his ears, the growing fear inside of him sensed by Baekhyun who lightly touched his wrist.

Unfamiliar men approached to lock him in chains and with one last look up before he was led away from the scene along with Baekhyun through the large, wooden doors of a massive building, he saw the woman raise a pistol and point it at Yoongi’s head. Baekhyun nudged him to turn the other way just before the shot cut through air.

He would never see the lodgers again.

**END OF ACT I: THE CRIME**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alas, we have reached the end of Act I. Only four chapters? Yup! Compared to my other works, this story is on the shorter side even though the chapters tend to be a bit longer than what I usually do. 
> 
> Please let me know if you're enjoying it so far and if everything makes sense! I'm always happy to answer questions and hear your thoughts. :-)
> 
> Thank you as always for supporting this story!
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	6. ACT II: PALOS - CHAPTER I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

It was eerily silent when the doors closed behind them. The sounds of the street outside did not penetrate the stone. There were no windows to let the sun bleed through the dimly lit entrance hall. Their chains clanked to the rhythm of their steps and their steps were in time with the dance of the flames rising from torches bolted to the walls. The hall smelled of ash and sweat and with every step they took it began to smell more of Baekhyun’s fear too. The scent rolled off the older boy in waves perhaps because that woman had hurt the young lodger, Yoongi, and Baekhyun feared that they would be hurt as well.

Although Baekhyun had shielded him from seeing it, Jongin felt it in his bones when Yoongi’s heart stopped like ice cold water on his skin suddenly swept away by the sun, like every touch of Yoongi’s thin fingers was scraped away forgotten by his body but still there in his mind. It was confusing. Jongin did not understand. He wanted to tell Baekhyun that he did not have to be afraid of the woman but even after traveling with the lodgers it still felt wrong to speak in front of people - humans - who weren’t Master, much less humans so wary of him that they would lock him in chains.

The woman may have hurt the young lodger but Jongin was convincing himself that she would not hurt them. Her face had been stern like Master’s even if it was far younger and pinched looking. She had such a great, big house, bigger than anything Jongin had ever seen. Such a big house must have food and such a big house with doors as heavy as the ones they walked through would make it hard for the remaining lodgers to get to them and cause them more pain. Right before bedtime, Jongin would tell her that those lodgers were thieves, that they ripped Master’s spirit from his body, that there was a much smaller house up in the mountains he should be returned to before more lodgers came for shelter and home far away for Baekhyun too. He did not know what the equivalent of copper was in work or bread or slabs of meat. Even with Master’s stories it was hard to picture the money used sometimes in towns like these. But whatever it was he could surely clean this house from top to bottom until he made up the difference again. Then they could begin their long journey back home, back behind the safety of Master’s fence.

From the front hall they walked into an empty courtyard with grass that looked thoroughly stepped on, pressed into the ground or torn up by the roots. The dry dirt stuck to his feet like a powder. In each corner on high platforms stood one human each with a rifle in hand. One looked straight into Jongin’s eyes and so Jongin directed his sight back ahead at the sharp edges of Baekhyun’s shoulder blades gliding gently beneath tarnished skin. Jongin told himself again that there was no reason to be afraid yet ahead of him Baekhyun was now shaking. With enough time the dying grass beneath their feet could be transformed into a garden that the woman who purchased them would enjoy.

They reached the other end of the courtyard walking through another large set of doors that groaned as they were slowly unbolted from the inside, swinging inwards into a corridor where the floor was covered in mud, the foul smell of natural waste overpowering everything else. Four young girls all holding rags covered in filth were waiting for them in a wide room lined with wooden basins, two of which were filled with water just as murky as the creek after rainfall.

The man holding the chain that had been attached to the heavy iron restraints securing Jongin’s wrists together did not gesture for him to step in but rather pushed until he fell forward, head submerged in the water while his knees made contact with the floor. He scrambled to right himself and again hurried to step inside the tub properly despite the ambiguous state of the water. Baekhyun’s fear kept him from turning around to look at the other boy as two of the girls who appeared to be even younger than himself quickly started to scrub his body, the dirt and dust that had gathered on his skin sliding into the water even as the rags left new traces of dirt in their wake.

One girl moved around to wash his back so Jongin took the chance to focus on the girl working on his front. She was skinny though no more skinny than he was from the days the lodgers had sought to starve him into submission and looked to be no more than six or seven years old. Her long black hair was tangled and dirty, the silver around her limbs the only thing that even remotely shined. She wore nothing but a pair of scratchy looking pants that were far too big for her but were held up with twine, her chest bare, ribs prominent. On the inside of her right upper arm, black symbols stuck to her skin.

She looked at him for a second before reaching out to push his head down into the water, dragging him back up in an attempt to further wash his hair but didn’t get very far before one of the humans made a sharp whistling noise, a sound that must be recognizable to the girls as an order for they all stopped at once to step away to retrieve towels. Quickly they were dried off and dragged back to the hall through doors and more passages that twisted and turned with dirt turning to wood and wood turning to stone beneath their feet.

At one point Jongin glimpsed the sky above them that illuminated Baekhyun’s matted hair and dirt-streaked back, the humidity of the day beating down on them, but it wasn’t too long after that when they were taken down a dark staircase where everything became damp once again and cold where a foul smell sliced like a knife through Jongin’s senses. He whimpered and planted his feet to the floor while Baekhyun did the same and stepped back until for the first time since leaving the lodgers their bodies touched.

“Have the little one go first,” a man said from further inside the room with sweaty and charred skin. Behind him a fire blazed while tools of all shapes and sizes rested on surrounding tables.

Hands tightened around Jongin’s chains as he was pulled forward and forced to his knees, his chest pushed down against a low, wooden stool that was secured to the ground with strips of metal.

“Jongin!” Baekhyun shouted from the other end of the room, unable to move as the human next to him held him back firmly. “Jongin look at me. It’s going to be ok. Just keep your eyes on me. Don’t be afraid. You’re going to be alright, ok? You’re going to be alright.”

Jongin did as he was told. He wanted Baekhyun to be next to him. He did not like the way the man behind him held him down. It reminded him of the way the lodgers threatened him in the woods on the night he finally submitted. But he focused on Baekhyun anyway even though Baekhyun kept shifting his eyes to look over Jongin’s shoulder back at the strange man who had been waiting for them. Jongin focused solely on Baekhyun even when he smelt molten metal familiar from when Master used to sharpen his heavier tools beside the shed. Jongin kept his eyes on Baekhyun until blazing hot iron pressed into his upper back and screams were torn from his throat, the smell of his sizzling flesh putrid in the low light of a foreign place. 

***

The room was dark and the stone beneath their bare skin was cold but the way Baekhyun’s arms wrapped around Jongin were warm and his scent calming. The tears on his face had dried even if he still trembled against Baekhyun’s chest, his arm cradled between them where the man deep in the large house inked markings into the skin of his arm while he lay half conscious. He now looked just like the girls who’d washed their bodies, as did Baekhyun.

The smell of their own burnt and bleeding flesh travelled with them. It stung, it itched, and from seeing the same mark branded onto Baekhyun’s back, Jongin knew his own must be the same. The details of the circular mark were difficult to make out on blistering skin but it was roughly the size of Master’s palm though the pain radiating around it made it feel much bigger. Still Baekhyun soothed him as much as he could, humming a peaceful melody as he rocked Jongin to sleep.

At one point he woke up with his cheek pressed to the cold stone ground and in front of him Baekhyun pulled at the bars that surrounded them. They did not so much as squeak in protest to his efforts. Jongin slipped back into a fitful slumber. Hour upon hour elapsed and after falling asleep and waking in a daze multiple times, Baekhyun informed him that it must be morning with the distant sound of bells ringing shaking the darkness. Beyond the bars at the end of the rows of cells was another door that Baekhyun told him no one had opened since they were first locked away.

“When can we leave here?” Jongin asked, looking ahead as his toes curled in and out. “Home is far. I wanna leave. Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun didn’t answer him for a long time.

“It will be hard for us to leave,” he said eventually.

“No I’ll just…” Jongin said, fighting down the aches radiating throughout his body. “We just gotta tell ‘em they stole us. We gotta tell ‘em the lodgers stole us.”

“They don’t care. Humans don’t care about us, Jongin.”

“You’re wrong. Master cared.”

Baekhyun fell silent before him again, fists clenching until the skin turned from red to white and with a sudden shift in Baekhyun’s scent, the boy’s eyes flashed yellow and his hands wrapped around Jongin’s neck, a dangerous hiss slipping through his teeth.

“You have _never_ been free,” Baekhyun spat as Jongin’s eyes widened in fear, sadness overtaking him. “If I were to kill you right now I’d be doing you a favor. You have always been a slave. You have never known freedom. You will… you will never know freedom as I have.”

He fell to the ground when Baekhyun released him in favor of going back to the bars, trembling hands feeling around to find a way to let them out. Jongin gasped for breath as he looked at his friend. Perhaps that was the smell of anger or maybe one of despair. Baekhyun didn’t mean it. Baekhyun didn’t mean to hurt him. Sometimes Master hurt when he was angry too.

“D-don’t… don’t leave me,” he stuttered even though Baekhyun still did not face him. “Don’t leave me. I’m sorry. Don’t leave me. I don’t wanna die I wanna be free of the humans. The bad humans. I’m sorry. With you. I wanna stay with you.”

The shaking of Baekhyun’s hands spread to his whole body. The sound of despair weighed more heavily than its smell. For the first time, Baekhyun’s tears joined his own, thick sobs and twisting moans. Baekhyun cried even after Jongin’s tears ran out. Baekhyun cried even after he accepted Jongin into his embrace again.

“Don’t leave,” he murmured each time he opened his eyes as the hours dragged on.

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun kept saying. “I’m scared. I’m sorry.” 

Asleep then awake. Empty stomachs, damaged skin, and trembling hands.

“I wanna go home. With you. Don’t leave me…”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to help you, Jongin. I’m sorry you were taken.”

“Don’t leave…”

“I won’t. I won’t leave you, little omega. I won’t-”

The sound of the lock on the door moving stopped Baekhyun mid sentence as a low growl rumbled through his chest. There were humans now even though the placement of Baekhyun’s hands made it impossible for Jongin to turn around to look. His nose was quickly adjusting to tell human apart from wolf.

Jongin closed his eyes as Baekhyun growled again and pushed him away so he was the furthest away from the bars to their cage. There were three humans, two armed and one who stood between them who was slight with sharp eyes and a sharper nose.

“That one,” he said lazily pointing a finger right at him.

Baekhyun growled again, deeper and louder than he ever had before, his body arching like an animal’s even though his limbs did not change form. The man beyond the bars however seemed unfazed while the two armed men stepped forward to open the door to their cage.

Baekhyun did not pounce at them like Jongin half expected but instead backed away slightly eying the two men as they approached with long blades of silver in their hands. Baekhyun was doing this because he was afraid but Jongin did not want his friend to be afraid. He didn’t want his friend to get hurt either. He didn’t want Baekhyun to walk around with any more silver scars on his body because of him. He did not want to smell Baekhyun’s blood ever again.

“Don’t hurt him,” he said as loudly as he could even as he sat frozen with his knees tucked to his chest. Baekhyun still did not move from his position in front of him and the guards in turn did not lower their swords. “Please don’t. We’ll go with you,” he said while bending forward to take Baekhyun’s hand whose muscles did not relax, eyes focused straight ahead maintaining a feral yellow glow. “Masters…” he said, feeling better when the two humans became less tense at his use of the word. “Masters please, we’ll go with you. Together. I don’t want no trouble. Masters please… don’t hurt us.”

Baekhyun backed away, righting his body to its full height beside him, their hands clasped together and for a moment Jongin thought they would be alright.

It was Baekhyun who screamed first, his fear and sorrow echoing off the walls as the air was forced out of Jongin’s lungs from the way he was torn from Baekhyun’s side and slammed against the wall. Pressed then against the human, the silver blade came to rest against his neck as he was pulled out of the cell.

His friend fell to his knees. His hands wrapped around the bars that now separated them. Baekhyun’s screams sent shivers down his spine and brought tears back to his eyes until the sounds were silenced by the closing of the door. Light filtered in through high up windows where Jongin could see that the sun was setting once again though he was numb to its beauty.

Everywhere they went required the opening and closing of thoroughly locked doors, a maze of twists and turns until the overwhelming scent of wolf hit his nose and the humans let go of their hold on him as he fell once again to the ground. Heavy doors closed and locked behind him.

Dozens of eyes looked onward - a room full of boys - some younger but most older like Baekhyun. The room looked too small for this many people but the soil and hay beneath his feet was reminiscent of his shed back behind Evergreen Inn. The warm air of the valley could be felt here unlike down in the place where Baekhyun was left alone with his despair. The thought only made the pain in his chest worsen and the boys stared at him until Jongin stood shakily to his feet once more and began pounding on the door with his fists. He hit and cried until all the energy left him. Behind him the other boys in the room began to huddle together scraping together piles of hay to sleep on.

Jongin quickly wiped away his remaining tears and gathered as much hay in his arms as he could before taking his place in front of the door again. He would use what he’d gathered for him and Baekhyun to sleep on when the other boy finally came. Baekhyun had to come. Baekhyun wouldn’t leave them here. They were going home. Baekhyun could have Master’s old room. Baekhyun who was left alone and afraid in a dark cell wouldn’t let them remain separated. Baekhyun, his first and only friend, the one who gave him his name, the one who knew things about the complex world beyond Master’s fence that Jongin couldn’t even imagine.

One by one the boys fell asleep and when the last bits of chatter in the room quieted to a barely audible murmur, Jongin felt someone sit beside him.

“You should sleep soon,” the boy said. He sounded older, even older than Baekhyun. His voice was just a touch deeper and he smelled slightly different as all wolves did, each carrying a unique scent. He heard him sigh a few moments later during which Jongin showed no signs of moving. “What is your name? I am Junnmyeon.”

Jongin glanced at the boy. He had long black hair that fell over his shoulders that was free of obvious tangles. His skin was pale and cleaner than all of the other omegas he’d seen. When their eyes met, the elder’s flashed yellow for a split second as he smiled.

“Jongin,” he whispered while refocusing on the locked door in front of them. 

It felt good saying the name Baekhyun had given him.

“Are you waiting for something, Jongin?” Junmyeon asked, grazing his fingers across the dirt on the floor.

“My friend.”

Junmyeon’s fingers stilled and he sighed again.

“No one else will come. It is best to rest.”

“Who says so?” Jongin said more loudly, the worry and fear evident in his voice.

“There are never arrivals at this time of night. Only departures.”

Junmyeon sat with him for several more minutes, his fingers continuing to draw lines aimlessly in the dirt while Jongin tried to understand his words. All around them was the sound of even breaths and he wondered how many of these boys were like Baekhyun. He wondered how long these boys had been here in this big house.

“Come to bed, Jongin. Your friend will not be brought here tonight.”

***

Jongin woke up to the sound of rainfall and the sight of the pale expanse of Junmyeon’s bare back. The rain didn’t seem to be doing anything to dispel the humidity that hardly existed in the mountains but was plentiful in the valley. In the mountains, autumn had already arrived but here the last tendrils of summer clung to his skin.

Sitting up with hay still gripped to his chest, Jongin turned around in all directions looking for Baekhyun in the darkness but his friend was not there and in the room packed full of sweaty bodies, Jongin felt utterly alone, tears threatening to fall from his eyes once again.

He flinched when a hand settled on top of his own and looked down to see Junnmyeon facing him with the same gentle smile on his face as earlier in the night.

“The day will be long,” he says. “You need rest.”

He continued to sniffle as Junmyeon dragged him closer, his hand carding through his hair and scratching behind his ears just as Baekhyun sometimes did.

The next time he opened his eyes it was to the sound of clanging bells and all the previously resting bodies now moving quickly in near silence away from the door that burst open not too long after, a group of humans revealing themselves all wielding rifles or swords shouting at them to line up and move forward.

Jongin spotted Junmyeon just before he disappeared to take his place at the front of the line, his previously gentle features now hardened like stone. In the hall dozens more omegas spilled out of rooms in single file around corners and down steps until the large wooden doors came into view that Jongin remembered marked the opposite end of the courtyard from where he’d been brought in with Baekhyun. Jongin could not tell how many days it had been.

A bowl filled with something soggy he didn’t recognize was forced into his hands before he was shoved out into the early morning sunlight of the courtyard, the watch towers now staffed with many more humans than he’d seen previously. All around him omegas sat down to eat not paying any mind to the muddy state of the ground but Jongin all but forgot the meal in his hands as he began to look around frantically for Baekhyun in the sea of bodies that spilled from the entrance.

“Baekhyun!” 

Some people turned their heads to look at him curiously before looking away. Others cursed at him when he used his shoulders to nudge them out of the way, a surprise for some because of how short he was. 

“Baekhyun!” he called out again when the doors came into view. 

Some people were still passing through but the next second he was on the ground, his bowl turned over in the mud, and a human glaring down at him, bearded and covered in armor, a rifle in hand.

The pain of the first blow barely registered before the large human raised his rifle again, swinging it down to strike Jongin across the face then down again across his ribs as the barely healed skin on his back sunk into the mud. Everything was silent save for the sound of wood and metal hitting his body but he still managed to shout out parts of Baekhyun’s name through the pain when he smelled his own blood and the path in front of him became blurred.

He closed his eyes but the next blow did not come.

“Has the example not been set, Master?” Junmyeon’s calm voice touched the morning air.

Jongin opened his eyes to see the human’s annoyed face as he looked from Junmyeon to him and back, shoulders stiffening.

“Filthy dogs,” he spat before turning away to go back to his post by the door and the tension of the moment quietly dispersed.

Junmyeon didn’t struggle to lift him off the ground for long before a few others pitched in to help and soon Jongin was sitting with his back resting against one of the walls that surrounded the courtyard and Junmyeon began to not so silently fuss over him.

“Your concern for your friend will get you killed. Spit for me. Thoroughly.”

Jongin followed Junmyeon’s instructions, spitting the blood that had pooled in his mouth onto the dying grass. There was another boy kneeling beside Junmyeon who looked up at him with wide eyes and large gaps in his mouth where teeth should’ve been. 

“He got hit fo’ shoutin I seen it all.”

“Yes, Taeyong, I know.”

“He ain’t know the rules. He dumb.”

“Shush.”

Though Junmyeon’s tone had no bite to it, Taeyong chewed on his bottom lip in silence, moving closer to lean against Junmyeon’s back in the process. Taeyong looked like the smallest boy out of everyone in the courtyard and with the gentle nature of Junmyeon, Jongin did not find it surprising that the small boy kept by his side.

“Jongin…” Junmyeon said using one of his slight fingers to raise his chin. “I don’t know where it is you came from and I don’t know the extent of what you’ve lost… but this is where you are now and the sooner you accept it, the better off you’ll be.” Junmyeon used some words he didn’t understand but Jongin did not waver away from his gaze. “So eat this,” the elder said pushing his own half finished bowl into his hands. “Do not look for what you cannot see. There is a time and a place for that… and that time is not now. Taeyong will stick by you throughout the day. As much as he can, anyway.” Junmyeon shifted his focus to the boy glued to his side who had perked up at the mention of his name. “Tae you’ll help out Jongin, right? You won’t go sneaking off to places you’re not supposed to be today?”

“Yes Papa.”

Jongin’s fingers froze around the bowl as he stared between Junmyeon and Taeyong. His voice would not come out and soon Junmyeon made his exit, walking off to speak to other groups of omegas who all seemed to give him their undivided attention. Taeyong latched onto his side as Jongin stared up at the gray sky until the bells clanged loudly once again and they were all ushered back into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	7. ACT II: PALOS - CHAPTER II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Master sometimes said that Jongin loved too much too easily. He loved the birds in the trees, the chipmunks in the trunks, the tiny fish in the creek, and the bloom of flowers in spring. Jongin loved every cloud, every star, every sunrise and sunset. He loved Master and he loved Baekhyun too. Jongin loved all too quickly, according to them.

But Jongin did not love everything. Once at age five he had grumpily let the word “hate” slip from his mouth, a word that a bad child had said in one of Master’s stories. Master tugged him by the ear that day and said that God frowned upon hateful people and it is because of that moment, Jongin supposed, that what he did not love he instead learned to fear.

Jongin feared thunder and lighting and the fullness of the moon. He feared fire, falling trees, and broken bones. Jongin feared the lodgers who took him, the silver they used on him, and the vast emptiness of the open valley. Jongin feared the humans inside the big house who watched him work behind their breathing masks.

Those humans stood along the walls of a room deep beneath the ground made from the same dark stone as the cell he’d been kept in with Baekhyun but instead of the cold dark dampness of a cell, this place had air that boiled. The smoke from the large kilns wrapped around all his senses and stung his eyes. The room was packed with young omegas knelt over blazing hot palettes that were pushed from one pair of blistered hands to the next. Jongin feared this kind of darkness, the kind not sprinkled with stars or nighttime clouds. This kind of darkness was new, yet already it sunk into his body and wrapped itself around memories of everything he loved that was taken away. Jongin feared the hidden flames too, the heat, and the smoke. Jongin feared the smell of blood, the smell of decay, and the image of Master’s swinging head shoved behind his eyes and down the dryness of his throat.

Their purpose here was to make bricks, the same kind that made up the fireplace at Evergreen Inn. At one end of the large room where the only light from above reached, Taeyong and three other little boys stood as if looking up from the bottom of a well as finely ground rock was poured in from the surface, falling at their feet as they kneaded and mixed it with water and scooped it into barrels. The intense heat in the room would dry out the substance again if Jongin and the others did not work quickly enough to lay it in rectangular molds. They would then pass it on to the older omegas who pushed the muddy blocks through flames with long prongs.

There was no rhythm to their work, no song to keep them in time like Jongin would sing in the mountains because all of the other omegas feared the masked humans too. They feared that their silver tipped whips would strike them if their shoulders sagged or if their hands faltered. It was only through the stinging pain on his back that Jongin slowly learned what the rules were for none were told to him outright.

Speaking was forbidden, making eye contact was forbidden, rest was forbidden, and no food or water was to be given as they worked. The masked humans also struck at random, their heavy boots hitting stone to scare them and occasionally an omega’s back for no reason at all and Jongin did not understand. He thought back to when he’d first seen Baekhyun, how confused but also somewhere deep down happy that outside in a wagon was a boy who looked like him, a boy who had the sickness of the moon. But it was a lie. Why did Master lie? Why did Master build his fence so tall? Why did Master never talk about the scary house in the valley? Why did Master die?

The sun that shone on Taeyong’s face in the distance through the smoke soon turned to shadow and from shadow it turned to night when the bells clanged again and everything became still. It was silent as they were herded back into the halls. Some were pulled aside into the bathing room but most were pushed straight ahead back up stairs and down long halls. A human checked the markings on Jongin’s forearm and he was pushed into the same room, floor layered with hay, the same omegas settling down, voices coming back in a hushed chatter, silence finally broken.

And perhaps Jongin feared the silence of the big house for it was not like the living silence of the mountain. He welcomed the voices of the other omegas even if none spoke to him. They left him kneeling in the middle of the floor as a gentle breeze came through high up barred slits in the wall stinging the oozing cuts and bruises now covering his body and it was hard to stop shaking. His skin burned with peeling blood and his insides were thick with ash. He couldn’t see the sun or the stars or the clouds. He couldn’t see any animals or surround himself with the smell of old books and soft leather. He couldn’t see Baekhyun. Baekhyun still wasn’t here. Baekhyun wasn’t anywhere.

Jongin tried to stand up again, but his legs were stiff and his entire upper body hurt. His head felt light as his tongue ran like sandpaper on the roof of his mouth. Instead of walking he crawled to the nearest group of boys speaking in hushed tones. They looked back at him, warily, their hair long and dirty. One had the peeling hands of the omegas in the fire room but the other two did not. The other two must’ve been sent somewhere else in the big house.

“Baekhyun?” Jongin asked quietly. “Do you… know where? Please?”

The three pairs of eyes only stared back at him so he inched his way along the floor, words falling from his mouth in unknown orders and everyone got more blurred the more he started to cry. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that nobody knew, that nobody was telling him where Baekhyun was. It hurt that Baekhyun wasn’t there and it hurt that he couldn’t feel Master’s presence right now. It hurt and everything here was scary. The woman who bought him was nowhere. He couldn’t see the mountains anymore. It was only when he had a boy’s leg tight in his grip that he realized he was being yelled at and tugged back harshly by the roots of his hair, chest wheezing with sobs, the wind knocked out of him as he hit the ground with a thud.

“No! Bad! Jongin bad!”

He curled into himself even though he recognized Junmyeon’s scent and the feeling of Junmyeon’s hands. His heart was still beating rapidly, so much that it hurt, but ahead of him he spotted the angry face of a boy who looked to be not much more than layers of scars and bones. At the sight of the texture of his skin, Jongin knew it was the boy he had grabbed but the ache in his chest made his vision unclear.

“I’m sorry. I g-got a… a M-master. I wanna go home. Let me go please…”

The scarred boy turned his head away, a group of other omegas forming a sort of nest around him as Junmyeon stood in between, hand reaching out to calmly stroke the top of his head.

“Jongin, it’s time to rest. You should go to sleep. Aren’t you tired?”

His teeth dug into his bottom lip as Junmyeon guided him to the opposite side of the room, the other boys moving away when they saw them approaching. Each movement made his head spin more.

“Junmyeon…”

“We can talk in the morning but you’re tired right now.”

“What is this place? Where are we? Where’s Baekhyun?”

“Shh… isn’t this comfortable, Jongin? It’s comfortable, I know.”

“I’m a sinner… I’m a Wild Beast…”

The hay beneath his head was more plush than the night before. He kept Junmyeon’s arm tight in his grasp even as the older boy moved behind him gently running his tongue up and down the stinging cuts on his back, up and down and up and down. It was strange. But it felt good. Natural. Calming. Behind his eyelids Master’s head still swung back and forth and back and forth.

“I’m sorry,” Junmyeon whispered once sleep had almost won.

***

Beatings were not so unfamiliar to him. Master’s subdued love was oftentimes completely silenced in the company of lodgers and because of that if a lodger ever got mad at Jongin like the time he’d stared in awe of a woman’s pretty dress, Master would hit him with a cane he kept in the cellar as hard as the screams the lodgers sent towards him were loud. He did it with no expression on his face but it was ok. After those types of lodgers left, Master would explain what he’d done wrong even if he hadn’t broken any of Master’s rules.

_ Well look what we have here. An omega. _

Jongin was pulled from his nightmare and bathed in the sound of whispering voices, amongst which Junmyeon’s warm tone calmed the tremors still wracking his body. It was still dark but Jongin could almost smell the approaching horizon.

“What happened earlier isn’t acceptable,” he heard one voice say. “He won’t survive this place. If he wants to live as a pet, let him die as a pet.”

“You won’t get anywhere without compassion, Kibum.” Junmyeon’s voice was easily distinguishable. “Someone like Jongin doesn’t know any better. He needs to be taught. We need to stick together. He doesn’t have a chance in the fields. He needs to stay here.”

With a tilt of his head, Jongin saw Junmyeon facing the scarred boy, Kibum, back straight while the other slouched amongst three others who observed the conversation quietly.

“I’ve done enough for you already. I’ve done enough by waiting endlessly for your pup to grow old enough so that he has a fighting chance when we make our move. Jongin is grown and he is weak. What purpose does a poisoned mutt have here?” Kibum stood and walked towards Junmyeon, his muddy feet pressing against Junmyeon’s stomach until he was forced on his back, expression unseen. “You reek of human the deeper into this we get. It disgusts me. Makes you less pretty.”

Many of Kibum’s words did not make sense but the day had been so exhausting that they felt almost numb against Jongin’s usual curiosity. Kibum called him poisoned just as the woman who purchased him and the lodgers who stole him did. But were they not all poisoned? Were they not all Wild Beasts? The few observers to their conversation slowly slinked away back into stacks of hay while Kibum and Junmyeon became a mess of moving limbs in the darkness only stilling shortly before daylight broke. Jongin had watched absentmindedly through tired eyes and did not understand even as Kibum whispered the word love as he held Junmyeon close.

The clanging of the morning bell washed the numbness from his skin, the pain reviving as his damaged skin slid over bone. Junmyeon took his place at the front of the line once again when the humans arrived, Kibum making his way to the very back. Around him it seemed like the other omegas were intentionally avoiding his gaze.

At the entrance to the courtyard when he reached out his hands to receive his meal for the day, a bowl was not given to him before the lukewarm slop was poured directly on his hands instead, most dropping immediately to the dirty ground. The human serving him the food looked at him blankly but it was only once he was shoved to the side and out into the yard by the human who had hurt him the day before that he understood just a little. That human did not like him just as some lodgers did not like him but Master was not here to beat him and explain why. In the yard not even Junmyeon fell into step beside him. Taeyong didn’t reveal himself either. By one of the surrounding walls he crouched down and licked what he could from his fingers and looked even more longingly at the sky.

It was another blistering hot day down below but Jongin forced himself to work harder so the humans might reward him with food at the end of the day. The burning whip only touched his skin twice during a moment when his vision blurred from exhaustion but Jongin held images of Master and Baekhyun and all the things he loved in his mind as he worked. No food was rewarded but Jongin had faith that the next morning his stomach would be filled.

Another night of silence followed and Jongin began to wonder what he’d done wrong. Junmyeon looked at him afar with a sad expression but Kibum’s glare kept him from making a single sound.

The next morning Jongin couldn’t help but let his spirits fall when instead of a bowl of food for breakfast, the slop was this time thrown directly at his face before he was again pushed to the ground. Again nobody helped but it was only once he was seated against the wall that he saw tiny feet approach him and a warmth settled against his side.

“Papa says not to talk to ya,” Taeyong whispered, his eyes wide with fear. “But you sad. Don’t be sad.”

When Jongin tried to smile he could feel the skin on his lips crack and bleed.

“It’s ok. You can be my secret friend, right?”

“Of course! I love friends! Jongin, my secret friend!”

Taeyong clamped his hand over his mouth when he realized how loud he was being. It made him laugh and for the first time in a long while. Jongin could feel Master’s spirit next to him again, just as warm as Taeyong’s body. Perhaps where he was beginning to fear the other omegas, he could love Taeyong.

“Baekhyun’s the name, right?” Taeyong leaned in to whisper again and the mention of his friend’s name from the mouth of another made his heart skip a beat as he nodded. “Alrighty I’ll find him. I can find anyone, I promise,” the young boy said confidently before slipping away as quickly as he had come.

There are no arrivals at night. Junmyeon had said as much on the first night. Only departures. Jongin remembered that after the sun had set on the fourth day and the heavy doors to their sleeping room were shoved open deep into the night. It was the human from the yard - the one Jongin had come to fear. Familiar chains were soon wrapped around his wrists.

Perhaps this man was taking him to see Baekhyun. Perhaps this man was taking him for a late meal to make up for the days he’d been denied of such. When instead Jongin was pushed into a wagon with five other omegas, he wondered if Junmyeon would ask for him the next morning when he did not appear in the courtyard. He wondered if Taeyong would be sad that his secret friend was gone without a trace.

***

They rode in the open air but the cloth wrapped over Jongin’s eyes prevented him from seeing anything. Still he could sense the light of the sunrise and the quick, shallow breaths of the omegas he was travelling with. He could feel the wind of the open valley and he could smell the expanse of grass. By the time the wagon came to a stop he could also smell the familiar foul odor that had been locked within the stone walls of the big house. Out here, however, it was quieter and the stench carried on the wind.

“Line em’ all up,” a deep voice said beneath the light of the rising sun.

Jongin found himself standing face to face with another boy whose eyes were red with tears. All in a row the other five boys he’d been brought to this place with were standing in front of an omega who looked like they’d been here for a long time. Beyond their small gathering, Jongin realized that while the area they stood in was vast, high wooden fences obscured the view of the ever stretching valley - a fence very much like Master’s fence. Despite everything that had happened, Jongin felt a small trickle of relief spread under his skin. Here he could see the sun and the clouds up in the sky. Here he could feel the green grass beneath his feet.

He wanted to ask the crying boy if he knew Baekhyun more than he wanted to ask why he was crying on such a beautiful morning. But he never got the chance to because one by one the man with the deep voice put a bullet through the backs of their heads. One by one they fell to the ground and he wondered if God saw this happening. He wondered if these dead boys had been sinners too. He wondered if the human with the deep voice was a Royal Hunter who wanted to protect people. He wondered all of these things and more as him and each of the other five boys he’d arrived with were told to drag each of the bodies by the ankles all the way across the fenced in grass and past a number of log cabins until they reached a giant pit in the ground filled with charred bones and glinting silver cuffs. The first boy to let shock and fear overwhelm him was beaten to the ground so Jongin let his eyes glaze over and let his mind think about all the things he loved.

The work in this place under the sky was familiar but hard. Jongin stood opposite a boy who was taller but not too much bulkier than himself.

Their job was to stack carts with the chopped lumber that came to them one by one until sundown. Within the fence he saw where trees were brought in whole far at the other end. He also saw where stacks upon stacks of bricks were brought in to be packaged and stored. At the end of the day he was not brought back to the big house with the boys he’d been brought in with. To his knowledge, nobody left that night to go back into the valley town. Instead they were walked back to where the cabins were that surrounded the pit of charred bones. The bodies they’d brought there in the morning were finally set aflame lighting up the darkness of their camp. Nobody cried for them. Nobody said anything at all.

The cramped sleeping rooms in the big house were nothing compared to the cabins. Bodies piled on top of bodies. Three platforms were nailed into the surrounding walls so that all of the boys could cram themselves in all the way up to the ceiling. Jongin found himself rolling onto a platform two levels from the floor, the wood beneath him splintered in places. The smell was foul and he shivered when he could sense a body pressed to his other side urinating. To his front, a boy looked at him, a dim spark of curiosity in his eyes but still he did not speak.

In a shared silence so heavy it was deafening, Jongin couldn’t even force Baekhyun’s name from his lips. Still he kept track of the days. His aching body and oftentimes empty stomach, for there was never enough food for everyone each morning and Master’s spirit would hate to see him being selfish, did not deter him from working hard. Master’s spirit was still with him amongst the uninterrupted silence. He still let his heart beat with joy as he looked upon the things that he loved so easily out in nature. Each day bodies fell from exhaustion. Some had not been fully drained of life before they were dragged to the pit and set on fire. Still Jongin counted the days. Still Jongin tried to love as much as he feared even if the concept of love itself was slowly slipping through his fingers like sand.

The first full moon outside of Master’s fence arrived quickly. All of the omegas were sent back to the cabins early and for the first time the usual silence was interrupted by grunts, then whimpers, then agonizing screams. Without meaning to, Jongin curled his body into the one in front of him once he felt the boy’s rough palm gently stroke his cheek. Since the day he’d arrived, Jongin found himself always sleeping next to this boy yet he had never heard his voice. He held the feeling of the comfort of that rough hand until the moon completely took him and his screams joined the others in the night.

Change came on the twenty-seventh day.

“Pants.”

Jongin blinked in surprise, the hypnotizing nature of the fire had become almost like a lullaby the more he became desensitized to the smell of death. The voice he heard was quiet and raspy from lack of use. It was the boy he always slept next to but now that same boy pushed a bundle of scratchy fabric into his hands.

“Pants from that dead wolf.”

He looked down upon his own naked form. The fabric felt odd in his hands and he wondered when he’d stopped taking notice of the naked state of his body. The days were growing colder. The sun was setting earlier. Autumn had descended upon the valley. What would winter feel like down here?

Jongin quickly pulled the pants onto his body. In the awkward smile the boy gave him, Jongin saw all the people he’d ever loved.

“Name?” he asked the boy when they were laying down that night. It was barely louder than a breath but his throat still burned with the effort.

“Don’t got.”

“How long… been here?”

“Born here. Name?”

“J-Jong… Jongin. I’m Jongin.”

“Jongin.”

Winter descended upon the valley quickly. Bodies fell and were burned at a greater rate but the omegas brought in to replace them waned by the last snowfall. Still Jongin counted the days. He thought of the day he’d see Baekhyun again even if it was only in Heaven. He wondered if God would let him into Heaven. He wondered if God would forgive him for breaking Master’s rule.

The nameless boy held him close some nights. On other nights he turned his back to him. Still on rare nights, the nameless boy would hold his hand and stroke fingers through his hair and they would both wake each other up from nightmares. The nameless boy was easy to love even though they had only spoken but on that one day many full moons ago. The nameless boy would be easy to love even for someone who didn’t love as quickly and easily as Jongin.

The day leading up to the sixth full moon the camp was more silent than usual. They were all sent back to their cabins, the snow beneath their feet almost all gone. Jongin lay next to the nameless boy facing his empty eyes. When the first spikes of pain began to spread through Jongin’s body, the nameless boy noticed so he raised his hand to stroke his cheek as always.

He worried for the nameless boy. He had gone the last few days without eating, his body completing the work in the yard as if his mind were not with him anymore.

Jongin was stronger now, though. Lean muscles were now built on top of his bones though not quite enough to conceal the dips and outlines of his ribs and shoulders. By the time the first cry came from his mouth, others in the cabin were already screaming. The nameless boy’s eyes glowed yellow as he grimaced, air puffing harshly in and out of his nose as if he were trying to hold back the pain.

Just before Jongin completely lost himself to the full moon, the nameless boy leaned forward and pressed his lips gently to his own. Jongin did not understand the gesture. He didn’t know what it meant but it was something Kibum had done to Junmyeon what seemed like so many lifetimes ago, the night Kibum had said the word “love,” that familiar word. The last thing he remembered before the pain of the full moon took him was the nameless boy smiling right before the glow of his eyes brightened, his pupils narrowing into slits.

The next morning the nameless boy was a tangled mess of broken bones. Lifeless. His fingers and toes were elongated and ugly like claws. His silver cuffs bent but not broken. Jongin dragged him to the pit. Love slipped through his fingers now like water.

From then on, Jongin lost count of the days. The smell of death was carried on the winds as the grass beneath their feet turned from its snow-covered dead browns back to vibrant greens. Winter turned to spring, spring turned to summer where the hot sun beat down on his back as he spent the day planting seeds in his first trips beyond the wooden fence and out into the valley. It hurt too much to think about home. He willingly forgot Master’s spirit, his face, his voice. He forgot the boy who looked like him out in the wagon beside the inn. 

Jongin forgot himself too but remembered God for God was the only thing he had energy left to fear as his head no longer looked to the blue of the sky or the white of the clouds.

The seasons became one year.

One year became two. 

Two years became three.

Wolf prayed to meet God.

Man had other plans.

It was mid harvest at sunrise when they came on horseback, bursting through the gates of the valley camp. They were adorned in robes of green and ivory, of aqua and red, the likes of which Wolf had never seen. The humans of the valley camp cowered before them in submission.

One by one the omegas were studied. Wolf could hear the footsteps of the humans but kept his eyes focused on the dirt below, on the touch of the flies that crawled along his skin.

“This is the one with silver poisoning?” one of the new humans asked when he gazed upon Wolf’s vacant expression. 

“Yes sir,” another said.

“Why was it assigned here? Its markings indicate house skill. The log book does not have any record of such an omega at this post.” The robed man, with surprising gentleness, brushed the long and damaged hair away from Wolf’s face. “Such mismanagement would never happen in Nafatar.”

As most omegas were guided back into the fields, Wolf was loaded onto a wagon with a handful of other breathing omegas. 

Just as he had come in a dream, he was wheeled away from the valley camp, away from its stench and silence, away from its haunting breeze.

The sight of the courtyard inside the big house under a half moon once grassy was now only mud, blood, and silver bullets. Abandoned for all to see were bodies left to rot, bugs and birds picking away at flesh of dead omegas.

Amongst the decay were faces buried deep in Wolf’s memory: Kibum, arms lifelessly circling Taeyong, older now, whose dead eyes remained open staring at the night sky. 

Jongin remembered himself in that moment. Remembered all he loved and feared. Remembered all he had and lost. He, too, looked upon the sky and thought of God. 

But all that bloomed within his heart was hate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a time jump that hopefully made sense??? I get nervous when doing time jumps. @___@ Let me know!
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	8. ACT II: PALOS - CHAPTER III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Far away, far past the mountain and the valley, far past lakes and forests and rivers and plains was the city of Nafatar, home of the palace, the center of their kingdom. Jongin didn’t know what it looked like or where it was, exactly. Master didn’t keep maps. Because of this it was hard to really picture it, how far land could go, but Master sometimes spoke of oceans - water like in the creek but as far as the eye could see, to the end of the world, off into nothingness, up into the stars. Ships lost at sea sailed between those tiny flickering specs in the sky and at night Jongin used to think he saw one floating up just out of reach of Heaven. 

That was a long time ago.

“A bit tighter please, all around,” the human in modest brown robes said, leaning back and wiping sweat off his brow. 

Jongin felt the leather strap across his chest constrict more followed by his waist, legs, and arms. The human who had spoken then looked directly at him, hand coming up to adjust the contraption keeping Jongin’s head still and his mouth open.

“You are only making this more difficult for yourself.”

“It probably can’t even understand you,” a human who stood out of sight chimed in.

Jongin continued breathing harshly through his nostrils, mind wild with panic. He could still feel the blood dripping from the soles of his feet, torn apart by a silver-tipped whip. At the sound of clinking metal, tears started to form again rapidly in his eyes. Jongin tried to escape within himself as he so often did, but this torture was different. This one sparked something feral inside of him that he did not understand, something scorching hot beneath his skin. It sharpened his senses. It made the pain worse. 

The human brought his long metal tool to his mouth once again, digging in and clamping around another of Jongin’s small fangs, twisting and pulling, a second tool cutting and prodding over and over again until it was ripped free with an impatient sigh from the human. Beside Jongin’s head, the fang was dropped into a bowl with dozens of others.

“See? Not too bad,” the humans said to him. “Only one more.”

It wasn’t until the fourth and final one was removed that the feral presence within Jongin quieted leaving him cold and dizzy. He reached inside of himself and lost consciousness, body leaving traces of blood along the floor as he was taken away, another omega brought in behind him.

Master never cared much for the happenings within the kingdom. He’d always said the mountains were on the edge, on the _cusp_ of civilization. For this reason Evergreen Inn was an outpost for adventurers who dared to go into the wilderness, beyond the mountain peak and into the land beyond. Master never even said the king’s name, only that he was an aging man trapped within the walls of the city and did not know the pleasures of a campfire or the openness of the mountain air. The king didn’t know of the reality of the mountains and for this reason Jongin always thought of Nafatar as a sad place, a labyrinth of stone with a king in the center of it all who knew nothing of joy. 

A sad king.

“They’re obedient? All of them?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Do they understand speech?”

“Simple orders.”

“And how many alphas do you keep?”

“Forty-six mature ones, my Lord.”

The clicking of shoes on stone stopped abruptly.

“That is far too dangerous. I must see them before this evening. My uncle is already not pleased with news coming from this place even with its economic… _potential_.”

Jongin lay motionless on the floor of his cage, limbs bent and twisted to fit inside the small space. His breaths came out with a heaving effort, a string of hoarse coughing and wheezing that had only grown worse as the weeks had passed. Winter in the valley was in full swing. It crept through gaps in the stone of the valley house that omegas now were forced to crawl through, each passing day being sorted, trained, and conditioned. The colorful robes once novel to Jongin were now everywhere. The halls that used to be covered in mud and hay were now spotless, almost pristine. Now any blood spilt in the valley house showed more obviously before it was viciously scrubbed away. That is how Jongin spent many days.

Of course, Jongin also saw winter more closely through the way the remains of the massacre were washed away by the rain, the ground of the courtyard taking on layers of frost and eventually snow. 

He saw the rain when he was brought there to be questioned. One by one the modest-robed human bent and broke the fingers on his left hand while another demanded to know about the _omega who called itself Junmyeon_ , the only omega to _disappear_ during the _uprising_. The omega they knew he knew because it was _that omega_ who _fucked_ _the_ _overseer_ who took Jongin to the fields in the valley against _authorization_. But they gave up on him on that rainy day. Jongin was a dumb omega after all, one who had forgotten too many words in the breeze of the fields, one who didn’t know very many to begin with, one who wouldn’t know who helped Junmyeon escape the valley town while those who loved him and called him “papa” died. Jongin didn’t understand everything, but he understood enough.

The ground was frost the day the humans had enough with the angry flashes of silver in his eyes. It was too hostile, too wild, too aggressive. Because _wolves, even some omega wolves, get that way when they are near maturity,_ they had said. So Jongin was tied to a post and neglected for days then beaten for days until the first snow fell upon him in the courtyard. It was a quiet and gentle dawn. Jongin felt the gentle song of death in his bones. And even though his mind was scattered and confused and alone, in that final half of a second was the relief that allowed him to let go.

But he hadn’t let go quickly enough. The modest-robed man he now knew was called Doctor pieced him back together enough to function. The other humans now pleased with the dullness of Jongin’s eyes.

So he was put back in his cage.

“And what of the captured ones?” Jongin heard one of the humans say, voice now closer than it was before. “The omegas you didn’t breed here?”

“We break in all of our captures, my Lord, so that they are adjusted for a life fitting of their station. This is one of the surviving ones not affiliated with the incident.”

The torches the humans carried waved across the entrance of his cage but Jongin remained unresponsive. Just breathing, just empty eyes. In his mind he was back on his ship, sailing across an ocean of stars, an ocean without wind, without sound. On the deck, moon-shaped flowers sprung from green wood, vines grew around his body. He was alone here, sailing towards Heaven, guided by the streaks across the night sky left behind by the souls lost to the pit and the courtyard massacre.

The striking against the bars of the cage sent vibrations across his ocean of stars, streaks dispersing into blackness, the bright flames penetrating his vision illuminating those same strange and foreign colorful robes. Jongin couldn’t help but think of the distant place called Nafatar, a place so barren of mountain joys they would weave the colors of autumn leaves into their clothes.

But this human before him, this man was different. He was tall but young looking, dressed with more unique colors even than the other humans who stood stark against backdrops of stone, wood, and emaciated omegas. Despite the skin of his face being so pale it was as if it had never been touched by the sun’s rays, a color that glinted similarly to sunshine over tree topped horizons snaked in swirls over a blue so deep and rich even a flower might envy it. His pants reached high on his waist of that same blue, heavenly, sparkling yellow patterns continuing until being swallowed by tall black boots. 

“Let me see it properly.”

There were days in the past when Jongin would flinch under human touch but now he was boneless, tired as his cage was opened and a familiar leather leash was latched to his neck, tugging him out and onto the stone floor. The tall human looked at him more clearly under the torchlight with disdain.

“Why is it all damp?” he asked.

“These ones have recently been cleaned. Locals will have a chance to rent or purchase them starting tomorrow to integrate into the town. The more high quality ones will be saved for breeding, pleasure, and the auction once the festival begins.”

Jongin’s face was nudged with the tip of the man’s boot.

“If I were king… I would kill them all,” the tall young man said matter-of-factly. The others did not say anything, a discomfort falling amongst them. “Someday my uncle will realize he made a mistake and I will brandish my father’s sword. I will truly rid this land of the Wild Beasts, the sorcerers, and any other demonic being with the audacity to not kill itself once it realizes that it is not of God.” Those words pierced through Jongin’s mind. Whatever was left of his heart felt like it turned to dust. “But until then… so be it. Let these villagers and nobles have their fun.”

***

The final time Jongin was taken through the courtyard of the valley house, a fair amount of snow had melted. His knees and palms had grown so used to crawling on stone, that the hard ground felt like a proper bed of hay. When his handler reached the front hall of the valley house, there was a heavyset man who stood waiting.

“This is one that is within your means,” the handler said, “fifteen years old, capable of hard labor, and reportedly has experience with lodgings.”

“I see,” the man said, looking upon Jongin curiously.

“Two thousand copper pieces to purchase.”

The man’s face lit up in surprise but then became cautious.

“And what’s the reason for that?”

“Its life expectancy is… minimal compared to our other offerings. But by the time it dies, this new industry should bring enough newcomers that you will find yourself to be a considerably more wealthy man.” 

And that was that.

For the first time in years, Jongin laid his eyes upon the outside of the valley house, its big door pulled shut, the dark hall beyond out of sight. He wasn’t sure how it made him feel but the man who held his leash now pulled with a lot less force than the handlers. He crawled along the road keeping his head down, hair swinging to obscure his face. The more pairs of feet he saw in the corner of his vision, the more his heart raced. He could feel eyes on him, hear rickety carts and horse hooves speeding by. There were doors opening and closing, rich smells of spices, talking, laughter, yelling. He crawled the way he was pulled as steady as he could, his senses dangerously close to overloading. It had been a long time since he wasn’t surrounded by his own kind.

But soon his new master unlocked a door that opened up to a short alleyway. Once closed, the assault of sounds and sights of the valley town were dulled. The man scrutinized him for a few more moments before pointing at the wall to the right.

“This is the inn. Only one in town. And I am Chungho, its keeper. If for some reason you end up somewhere you’re not supposed to be, say you belong to me and you’ll be brought right back here.” He then pointed to the wall to the left. “And this over here is the parlor house. Madame Hwayoung runs it. You’ll be doing some work in there too.” The man, Chungho, looked at him strangely. “Do you even understand what I’m saying?”

Jongin nodded and Chungho sighed, producing a pipe out of his pocket and leaning against the wall of the inn. With each inhale he seemed to relax more. The clothes he wore were very similar to his original Master’s. Perhaps the more decorated handlers of the valley house in their robes surprised him.

“Well then, let’s see if you were worth the coin.” 

Chungho gave him cloth to cover himself with, a plain brown nightgown of sorts that was loose on Jongin’s lanky frame but kept everything covered from his wrists to his neck to just below his knees. He showed him the storeroom for the linens and the soaps along with where to get water to wash, tools to dust, and coal and wood for ominous black structures located in most rooms that Chungho called furnaces. A new word. They were apparently new to the inn as well, a luxury from towns closer to Nafatar had finally made it out to the valley. 

Jongin demonstrated how he could dress a bed, the soft material stirring a distant familiarity within him, and Chungho nodded in approval. Lastly, he was shown the latrine back out in the alleyway and how it should be kept. He would be fed once a day each morning - scraps of food collected throughout the previous day from the parlor house. At night he would be locked in a cellar where he would sleep.

“You won’t be able to keep up with the work if you can’t stand,” Chungho said as Jongin looked around the small cellar that night. “But let me be clear in saying this is the best life is gonna get for you, so whatever you did to get all these scars you’d best not do again. Understood?”

Chungho held his gaze and Jongin nodded. Seemingly pleased, the man took out what looked to be bandages, showing Jongin how to wrap them around his hand wrist then his foot and ankle.

“Now, stand,” he ordered.

Jongin closed his eyes in concentration as he braced against the ground. The handlers had made a habit of keeping the wounds on the soles of their feet fresh. Even with the bandages it still stung. But Jongin had been through a lot of pain, was now always in pain due to bones that probably just didn’t heal the way they should’ve. He stood, squatting at first, before slowly standing up. His body shook and his breath stuttered but for the first time, Chungho offered him some semblance of a smile. Once again, Jongin didn’t know how it made him feel.

“Very good. You will be fetched before sunrise.” 

Structure returned to Jongin’s days. It would always begin with cleaning the inn’s lounge and the ground floor of the parlor house, then would come the chopping of wood and the soarting of coal in the alleyway to be brought to the many rooms of both buildings. By late morning, Jongin was free to retrieve each occupant’s chamber pots, emptying them and scrubbing them clean. Preparing rooms for new lodgers had to happen more quickly than he was used to as newcomers arrived most days dressed in many types of garbs speaking in all sorts of dialects. It is from the windows in these rooms that Jongin observed how a large wooden platform was being built day by day out in the middle of the road.

While he was the only omega at the inn, he did catch glimpses of many in the parlor house especially when it came time for him to check on the main floor’s fireplace throughout the day. But they were very different from him. While there were many smells in the parlor, the omegas there added to them, something that masked their natural scent so well he might have not known they were of his kind if not for their silver bindings and how most crawled instead of walked. Their hair was always kept silky and clean, their bodies decorated sparsely with colorful fabrics as their hands roamed freely over the humans they were always attached to. 

But when Jongin sat in the alleyway during his few idle moments looking upon the tall silver-locked door between him and the main road of the valley town, he knew this was just another cage. His whole life had been nothing but cages. In the cellar Jongin sometimes tried to search within his heart the feral thing inside of him that the handlers feared. But wherever it was, it remained dormant. The closest he came to feeling anything anymore was the first time lumber was delivered to the inn, the alleyway door unlocked to reveal the carts identical to those in the valley camp and it was like the whole world had folded to swallow him up. Luckily, Chungho’s whip was not tipped with silver. 

In some ways, Chungho reminded Jongin a lot of Master. He maintained a seemingly uncaring yet watchful eye, he knew the exact way he wanted tasks to be done, and he had a towering presence that seemed to keep even the wealthier lodgers in line. It was Chungho who helped him when late in the evening, a man stumbled from his room and called Jongin a thief. The beating roused many guests and Chungho threw the man out on the street mumbling about how such things were bad for business. The festivities of the valley town were in full swing, and each day Jongin saw the cages of omegas left out in the streets for the humans to look at. Each day many humans who saw him working would point and whisper. 

In his mind they always whispered _not of God… not of God… not of God._

Perhaps it was due to all the sounds and smells, but Jongin grew used to the dizzy spells that would hit him now and again, the sweat and heavy breathing always its companion. Chungho noticed, of course. Now each night before bed, Jongin was given tea. It helped him relax more the nights when Chungho would touch him and penetrate him in at first strange but now familiar ways. Like everything else, Jongin didn’t know how it made him feel. But there was no need to feel anything day after day after day.

Jongin knew he would die here. That’s all that mattered. That’s all he dared to wish for.

***

By the brink of spring, the valley town had completely transformed. 

“There are even guests from the castle here,” Chungho had said with glee one day, stepping out of the latrine. “Make sure they are not offended by the sight of you. Stay out here if you are not needed by the Madame or myself.”

Jongin nodded and managed to hold back a fit of coughs until the man had gone back inside. He had finished nailing together wooden planks stretching from the side door of the inn to the side door of the parlor after many guests had complained about having to walk through the mud. Now, with his hands, Jongin set to work clearing away more fresh mud to make room for the same solution as a pathway to the latrine. 

By now used to humans coming and going, Jongin did not look up when in the early evening, the side door to the parlor opened and slammed shut. He only looked up at the sound of a man’s inebriated, drunken speech.

“By God! What stench! What filth!”

This human slouched against the wall now, wavy hair falling to just above his shoulders that adorned a long cloak of black velvet. Without much further pause, he undid the ties of his pants and began urinating in the small ditch Jongin had been working on. It wasn’t an unusual sight but slowly, the man’s eyes rolled towards him as he finished. 

“And what a pitiful being in the middle of it all. A sad being.” 

The man stalked towards him now where he knelt readying the chamber pots. Jongin kept his gaze focused on the ground but paused his work when the man finally reached him, hands automatically folding in his lap in wait.

“But oh, you _are_ different, aren’t you? Very… interesting…”

Jongin remained frozen as the man had not asked him to do anything. 

“My name is Heechul,” he said, “do you want to see a magic trick?” A question. He’d been asked a question with a word he did not understand. _Magic_. “You seem like you could use some magic. Look at me, wolf boy.”

And so Jongin looked.

Heechul held up his hand, rotating it and waving his fingers. 

“See that now nothing is in my hand, nor is anything up my sleeve. But you, wolf boy, you have a certain _shimmer_ about you.” 

Jongin held steady as he thought the man would touch him, empty hand reaching out towards his ear. And the side of his thumb did touch flesh, just barely, before retracting revealing a shiny gold coin between his fingers. The man laughed at what must’ve been Jongin’s expression, one of disbelief. Never before had Jongin seen such a coin up close. 

“I wonder if your master knows just how much worth you have.”

Jongin reached his own hands behind his ears, up into the roots of his hair where it was secured now with a scrap of fabric but did not feel anything that ought not to be there. Meanwhile, Heechul’s eyes trailed over his form, inhaling deeply leaning just over the crown of Jongin’s head.

“Yes,” tumbled off Heechul’s tongue on the exhale, “you will do nicely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	9. ACT II: PALOS - CHAPTER IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Master spoke of many things but Master never spoke of magic. What type of man could create something out of nothing? What power could this be other than God’s power?

Heechul grabbed Jongin by the back of his gown and began dragging him towards the door to the parlor house. Soon, Jongin’s dirty hands and legs began tracking on the pristine floor and all inside stopped to stare.

“Where did the Madame go?” Heechul called out loudly and a recognizable old woman came rushing in, frustrated. “This one,” Heechule continued, pointing at Jongin, “I want this one for the night.”

“Sir,” Madame Hwayoung hissed under her breath as she approached him, “this is not appropriate. This omega was not selected for such duties in my house nor am I its master. It is but a helper from across the alley. Meant for keeping the fireplace and scrubbing the floors. If pleasure is what you want, you will not get it from  _ that _ .”

“A lady such as yourself would have no idea what gives me pleasure I assure you. If it is such an issue then go on, call its master,” Heechul said pointing back towards the alleyway, “with the weight of my coin I could buy every slave in Palos right from under the visiting prince’s nose if I were so daring.”

Eyes still focused on the ground, Jongin inhaled the scent of the parlor, the faintest hint of obscured omega scent keeping him steady as another dizzy spell began to consume him. Before him, Madame Hwayoung’s eyes explored Heechul’s visage, her posture tightening as quickly as a noose. 

“I will give you the dignity of paying after the fact. This one will be a dirty, limp, rotten thing and will not reflect house standards. You may use room eight.”

Beneath Jongin’s hands, the steps began to blur together and in his haste, Heechul switched his grip from his clothes to his hair, dragging him further until the noises around him quieted and his body was released. Jongin could feel the perspiration building on his skin even though he felt cold and nauseous. He knew if he kept his eyes closed, the feeling would eventually pass.

_ “You’re about as far along as I expected.”  _ Heechul’s voice came to him not from without but seemingly from within, a strange pressure in the back of his mind. “ _ I wonder, have they told you that- _ ”

“ _ I’m sickly _ ,” Jongin thought to himself and he could feel Heechul’s smile. 

“ _Silver poisoning._ _A sloppy binding method has been steadily corrupting your body your entire life which will make it a far more brief life than it would have been otherwise. And I can see it all now. Not only are you sick, you are dying. You are in your final seasons._ ”

Jongin gripped his head tightly but did not move from his place on the floor, the suspicions he’d buried deep down now confirmed kneeling before this powerful being. 

“ _ Are you… are you a spirit? _ ” 

“A more primitive mind might think so,” Heechul said out loud, breath now fanning over his face. The weight Jongin previously felt in his mind was gone. “I can tell by the look on your face that you do not understand. But that’s alright. Someone like you is not meant to understand the ways of the world. I am here because I need something from you. Cooperation of the most important and sensitive nature.”

Slowly, Jongin opened his eyes, squinting at the man crouching in front of him. In Heechul’s outstretched hand a piece of fruit appeared. A plum as clear as day materializing before his eyes. 

“Your first task, wolf boy, is to eat this.” 

Jongin began shuffling himself backwards, cowering in fear and confusion as Heechul pursued him. And there he was, once again in his mind.

“ _I know you’re hungry. Hungry little… Jongin? I see, so that’s what you call yourself. Jongin, tricked by his master, separated from his friends, and damned by… by God Himself. Left to die in a tiny alleyway filled with shit and piss._ _But Jongin, if you do what I say you might yet have a future. The life…_ inside _of you might have a future.”_

And it appeared in his mind’s eye: the families that would come to Evergreen Inn, the children, the way Taeyong clung to Junmyeon. Life growing within him.

Jongin’s face flushed and his eyes filled with tears. How could this happen? Of all the prayers he had sent to God, it was answered with a child? A child who would die with him in a place like this? Or maybe this was punishment, punishment for doubting, punishment for losing faith, for being hateful. But Heechul… maybe God was showing forgiveness by sending Heechul, a mystic being, an angel? Was this man an angel? Did this angel give him his baby?

“Yes… that’s it,” Heechul hummed as Jongin gently took the plum from his hands, fresh juices hitting his tongue for the first time in years. He devoured it until only the core remained, falling from his hand and rolling across the wooden floor. The effect of the fruit was like wine, a drowsiness quickly warming his bones. 

Heechul caught him against his chest as his body sagged, a strange language falling from the man’s lips as he grasped Jongin’s palm with one hand, ripping away his cloth wrappings, and revealed an intricate knife in the other. Jongin’s breath hitched as the blade pierced the skin of his wrist, dragging across his flesh in a straight line through to the tip of his middle finger. Heechul then copied the same on his own hand and when he brought their bleeding palms together it boiled and burned. 

Jongin’s vision blurred, he could not breathe, could not hear, but in his mind, Heechul was there.

“ _ Trust me _ .”

***

Jongin groggily opened his eyes, disoriented and stiff. He was on the floor of a room with a wide bed perfectly made. Behind him the furnace burned its last embers but his proximity to it had made his cheeks unusually warm. Outside he could see it was dark. When had he fallen asleep? 

He winced as he felt a sharp stinging in his right hand. Trailing across was a strange wound, the darkest of scars that pulsed in his veins. The longer he stared at it, the more he remembered. 

The man. The parlor. The… his baby.

Jongin found his discarded wrappings just beside him and reapplied it quickly to his hand. He looked down at the rest of his body with all its scars, bumps, bruises, scrapes, and cuts and felt guilty, guilty for not having felt the life inside of him. How frail it must be, how pained. 

“Jongin?” 

The voice that called to him was quiet and airy. It was only then that he noticed the perfumed scent of the parlor omegas had become stronger. When Jongin turned around to face the doorway, he saw a young man. His hair was long and silky and he wore short robes of gray cotton. 

“Jongin, do you remember me?”

How many years had it been since he had used his voice to speak? How many moons had it been since he had allowed himself to think about the boy in the wagon? The day everything changed? 

“B… Baek… hyun?” 

Baekhyun quickly limped towards him and gently lowered himself to the floor. The older boy smelled different, smelled sweet like honey, vibrant like flowers as he caressed his face and pressed his lips to his neck, inhaling Jongin’s scent in return. And for a moment, Jongin was a little boy again trying desperately to understand the world around him, thinking with all his heart that everything was a mistake, that he’d be home soon. 

Home. How many years had it been since he had allowed himself to think of such a word? Even now the thought was too much to bear, made his chest hurt, made him feel small in Baekhyun’s arms even though he was bigger now. He wasn’t the boy he used to be. 

“Oh Jongin… what did they do to you? What did they do to my boy?” Baekhyun cried quietly with him. “Did… did that man touch you? The Madame said he rented the innkeeper’s servant. How long… how long have you been in this place? How are you alive? I thought… I thought for sure… for years I’ve been in the breeding dens until just recently. Had I known… oh had I known…” 

“Two… two s-seasons,” Jongin managed to say, “what is… br… breeding?” 

Baekhyun moved away slightly and started pushing up the cloth of Jongin’s gown until it pooled at his waist. Pushing his legs apart, Baekhyun looked at him, some of the fear slowly easing from his face.

“He does not appear to have touched you. What did he want? Are you hurt?” Jongin shook his head, his own question unanswered, and Baekhyun held him close again. “The Madame sent me to fetch you. Your keeper is upset. I will find a way to get to you without the Madame knowing. But I’ve taken too long already. You must go. I fear your punishment.”

Baekhyun helped him to his feet and urged him towards the door. Jongin looked back.

“You… stay here?” he asked as Baekhyun stood hovering by the bed. 

“Yes. I have to keep others here company tonight.” 

Jongin continued to hesitate then ran back to hug Baekhyun tightly once more, as tight as he could.

“I… I l-love Baekhyun,” he said, and he meant it. “I love Baekhyun. I’ve seen… seen angel! Miracles! So many miracles! Oh Heavens! Oh Almighty God!” he cried, a sense of disorienting hysteria hitting him in full force. It was all too much.

Baekhyun looked into his eyes and Jongin knew that with so few words it was impossible for Baekhyun to truly understand. The world, so great and vast, was so different now, so different than Jongin ever understood it to be. There was no trace of Heechul in sight, the angel only leaving his mark on flesh. 

“And I love you. I am so proud. You have grown tall and strong, my dearest Jongin. I will come for you. At dawn I will find my way to you. Every dawn until I can figure out how to get us out of here, far away to the Forest of Casia where the whispers say our kind grows in number.”

Jongin still refused to let go, back hunched and face messy with both happiness and sorrow. But soon he stumbled away down the hall, then crawled down to face his master.

The main floor of the parlor was almost silent as Chungho stood in the middle of it, his finest clothes on display woven with the colors of autumn with Madame Hwayoung standing demurely by his side. Chungho looked upon his disheveled appearance and turned red with fury. 

That night Jongin clenched the mud of the alleyway with one hand and his flat stomach with the other as Chungho brought his whip down upon him. Chungho called him a beast and a whore. Whore, an unfamiliar word. Chungho beat him until he was satisfied, long after Jongin’s body had already slipped into unconsciousness. 

***

The valley town’s bells sounded deep into the night. The air filled with ash and smoke, the howls of wolves were everywhere rousing Jongin from his sleep. He cowered at the calls and was filled with a desire to submit to it, submit to the powerful scents that cut through the burning air. It frightened him and he found himself unable to move. In front of him his hands were bound tightly with a complex weave of rope, latched to the side of the latrine with large nails. It held him kneeling in the mud, the fabric on the back of his gown torn and sticking to the new gashes in his flesh. Chungho, along with his other new and expensive belongings of late, had acquired a whip tipped with silver. 

“Jongin! Jongin, where are you?” Turning his head slightly, body protesting as he did so, through the haze he saw Baekhyun. The omega ran towards him carrying an armful of rags. “I will set you free. We will be free. We must hurry,” he said, his hands coming up to work at the rope. The knot was tight and thick and the longer Baekhyun took, the more it became harder to breathe. The dominating scents and howls came closer too. It was not clear to Jongin yet if this was real or a nightmare. 

Just when the rope began slacking around his wrists, the side door to the inn slammed open. Even Chungho’s nightwear seemed ornate, Jongin thought. In his arms he held his most prized riches seemingly ready to flee but dropped them once his eyes landed on Baekhyun.

“That belongs to me!” Chungho yelled and then the large man was ripping Baekhyun away from him by his robe, the fabric tearing as he was thrown to the ground.

Baekhyun struggled against him even as Chungho closed his hands around his throat, inebriated but crazed, forcing Baekhyun’s face deeper into the mud. Jongin felt small once again, small like he was trapped in the lodger’s wagon as they demanded Baekhyun to sing.

But what brought Jongin from his daze, breaking through the sounds and smells, was the presence in the back of his mind.

“ _ Leave him. Leave them both to die. _ ”

“ _ No, _ ” he thought.

“ _ Then do it. Kill your master. Kill man. _ ”

“ _ Kill? _ ”

“ _ Yes. _ ”

The suggestion caused Jongin’s head to turn. Beside the stacks of lumber was his axe. He twisted himself free from the remaining rope and scrambled over to grasp it, familiar in his calloused and scarred hands, movements as sure as a bird in flight. 

Chungho screamed in agony when the tool pierced his back once, twice, thrice, the foreign blood splattering against the front of Jongin’s dirty gown and face. Baekhyun gasped for breath, pushing the still but moaning man off of him, axe remaining lodged in flesh and bone. Jongin fell to his knees as the presence in the back of his mind grew, his whole body beginning to tremble at the feeling that coursed through him.

“We must go, Jongin,” Baekhyun said desperately, clasping his hands in his own. “All of Palos burns!” 

Baekhyun pulled him back into the parlor house. Through a second floor window they walked onto a sloping rooftop. In the distance was chaos, the center of the valley town completely overcome in flames, the hellscape it always was for those bound by silver. Baekhyun secured one of his rags that Jongin realized were soaked in water around his nose and mouth before turning to Jongin to do the same. They made their way over rooftops the opposite direction of the largest flames. They managed to run across three almost connecting rooftops before being forced to climb to the ground. 

Away from the main street, the valley town was dark but not barren. Humans still ran through the streets, panicked. But the two of them still ran as well, hands clasped together. If the humans they passed realized they were omegas, they made no move to stop them. Baekhyun covered their heads with his last larger cloth anyway as they kept running. He adjusted the direction they ran at the sound of another howl as if drawn to it but as they reached another narrow alley, far away from the alleyway where Jongin had toiled, Jongin’s body froze and he fell to the ground. 

“Jongin!” Baekhyun screamed, diving to turn Jongin over onto his back. “Jongin, talk to me, please!”

But Jongin was lost within himself, what was once the scar on his hand pulsed heavily now, blood seeping through his bindings, the presence that began in the back of his mind now spreading throughout his whole body. Through all the chaos, he heard a beautiful song. Every muscle tensed, wanting to crawl towards the source even though his heart wanted with all its might to continue the other way with Baekhyun, to the sound of what Jongin onced believed were the Mountain Spirits. But perhaps this was the angel guiding him, guiding  _ them _ . 

“The song, Baekhyun,” he whispered. “We must follow the song.”

Jongin only kept repeating himself as Baekhyun took notice of his hand, unwrapping it to see what was beneath the bloodied stips of cloth. The more Jongin bled, the more the whites of his eyes blackened, his body twitching beneath the older omega’s ash-covered hands. 

Instead of crying for help, Baekhyun made his scent stronger, sweet and potent but also laced with fear until at the opening of the alleyway appeared a beast. Even Jongin’s endless mutterings faltered in the presence of the alpha wolf but it was the cloaked human who accompanied it who rushed forward. 

“Fear not, omega,” came the calming voice of a woman. “Go with your alpha now. We have slain the Prince of Nafatar, a new war begins and you are free.”

The woman was young but strong even though on her face Baekhyun could see the fatigue of the night. He did not know much about sorcerers but he recognized her as one, could feel the presence of magic deep within her otherwise human body. Still, Baekhyun stayed rooted to the spot, shaking his head.

“I will not leave without him.”

“Your friend has been bewitched,” she said. “He cannot be helped until the source is found. Until then, it is too dangerous for him to go with you any further.”

The alpha wolf began to move in closer to him but Baekhyun turned his head away from its lulling scent. 

“No! If I truly am a free wolf, I choose to stay. I  _ will not _ leave without him. Not this time.”

The woman stared at him long and hard but acquiesced. She removed the cloth from Jongin’s face and placed a hand on each side of his head, instructing Baekhyun to keep a safe distance away.

Around them the howls and blasts of battle moved further into the distance even if the raging flames grew closer. Both the sorcerer and Jongin had been silent for several minutes. Jongin was no longer twitching but the woman’s breath became more and more labored.

“What…” she heaved after a long while, “what kind of darkness is this?” 

More quickly than Baekhyun could react, he watched in horror as Jongin’s body lurched forward, fingers carving into the eyes of the cloaked woman, a shrill scream accompanying the blood and fluids that squelched from her sockets before collapsing backwards onto the ground. 

“Jongin…” he whispered. 

But the little boy he once knew seemingly did not hear him, did not see him, before running into the smoke and out into the night.

In his mind, it was not clear yet if this was real or a nightmare. Once trapped within, Jongin soon became cognisant of his surroundings and of his body, lost and confused and utterly alone.

“ _ But you’re not alone, _ ” Heechul’s voice came to him.

“ _ Come to us, _ ” Baekhyun’s voice also came to him. 

“ _ I’m coming, _ ” he thought. “ _ I’m coming home. _ ” 

Into the open night air, Jongin ran against the wind through tallgrass and sleeping flowers. The stars were bright as was the waning moon as were the flames still rising from the valley town called Palos. Jongin ran more desperately than he’d ever run before, urged forward by the song in his mind, his master’s blood drying on his skin.

Jongin ran until the sound of distant hooves quickly closed in on him and he was swept up into the arms of the man who could see into his mind, the man who could make something from nothing, the man with the power of God.

  
  


**END OF ACT II: PALOS**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... uh... HOPEFULLY THIS CHAPTER WORKED OUT OK IT WAS A BIT OF A STRUGGLE.
> 
> But also yay! Act II comes to a close. 
> 
> Any and all comments or feedback or questions or kudos goes a long way let's just say I'm very worried about this story being a big fail. XD *sweats nervously*
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	10. ACT III: GOOD MEN - CHAPTER I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

In a story Master read to him, a young boy knelt down to pray by his dying brother’s bedside. The brother was very sick and the young boy was so sad that Jongin had felt sad too sitting in front of Master’s couch on the verge of tears even though he didn’t quite understand it all. He asked Master what “brother” meant but frowned when Master mentioned parents, eying him in warning. Jongin wasn’t allowed to ask questions about parents so instead he asked a second question.

_“What does prayin’ mean?”_

_“It’s useless,”_ the man had said but proceeded to take to his knees anyway motioning for Jongin to do the same. _“Ya put your hands together like this and hope for good things. Some think God can hear ya when ya do that.”_

_“God can hear us? We can talk ta Him?”_

Master had grunted in a way that was neither confirming nor denying.

_“Yes,”_ he said eventually, _“but only rely on it if there’s nothin’ else you can do ‘bout a problem. It’s your last tool, don’t abuse it.”_

_“Master, when have you prayed?”_

The longer the silence had stretched, the more Jongin accepted that this was another question he would not receive an answer for. But that was alright. Some things weren’t meant to be known.

“ _As a young boy I faced a demon. I prayed then._ ”

Jongin had scrunched his nose in even more confusion, the delight he thought he’d get from the response turning out to be disappointing. It was frustrating not being able to understand.

“ _What’s a demon?_ ” 

“ _Monsters,_ ” Master had said. “ _Disguised as good men._ ”

***

Jongin knelt on the riverbank watching the water slowly flow past. In the distance he could hear birds and around him small bugs flew and crawled. Even the soil and plants beneath his knees oozed of life cradled by fresh air, reaching out into his senses and touching a distant memory. 

The mountains. The creek. The fence. 

He had put so much effort over the years into not remembering the things that happened to him each day. Just praying until his prayers ran out. Just existing while slowly not believing. Not believing and only wishing for death, waiting for it to take his hand, all to once again experience a type of peace that was a mere shadow of what was now before him. Another miracle. 

It had been five years since he had last seen his own reflection. A gaunt and discolored face stared back at him from the water. His lips looked as dry as they felt. His hair, long enough now to drape over his shoulders, was matted and disheveled with dirt and ash and blood. He looked as if death had touched him, wrapped him in its arms, and let go leaving him a blemish amongst the living. But he was alive. He had survived his living nightmare. 

Further upstream, Heechul rested with his beautiful horse who stood black as night under the afternoon sun. They would set off again shortly before dusk. The man assured him it was better to travel through the woods ahead of them at night than lay out in the open. He said that they weren't too far from something called the marshlands. 

Removing his tattered brown gown, Jongin neatly folded it and placed it behind him upon the soft grass next to his set of new clothes: a long tunic and trousers made of dyed black material that was rough to the touch. He paused, feeling the sun touch the torn skin of his back. Everything ached, inside and out. Strange images floated just beyond his grasp, dreams that could just as easily be memories. But he did not know. The more he thought, the more everything became unclear. He could not truly remember how he got to this place.

The water called to him and its depth at least momentarily anchored his simmering unease. His toes dug into the soil below before he pulled himself fully beneath the surface, fingers coming up to rid his hair of death’s touch. Rising back above he was hit with awe anew as he further took in his surroundings. Floating in the water, he gazed not upon fences or enclosures or sorrow. It really was simply the world, untouched. But as his hands sunk back into the riverbank, the gentle sun glinted off his silver bindings. And he remembered. Gradually. Small pieces. 

_The life… inside of you…_

_I love you… my dearest Jongin…_

_At dawn… Forest of Casia…_

_Whore… only I… can touch…_

_Kill… kill your master…_

Jongin tried to hold back a strong wave of nausea as he let the sun dry him in the open grass, staring at the blood still trapped beneath his fingernails. But there was nothing to expel from within him. He simply heaved hot air onto the ground, spit hanging from his mouth as he gagged on nothing. As his muscles relaxed, Jongin held himself and shivered against the slight breeze.

“Baekhyun?” he whispered to himself once the chills passed, “what have I done?”

“You did what was required of you.” Jongin jumped and moved away from Heechul’s voice, squinting until the man moved so his head blocked the most direct of the sun’s rays. He looked exhausted even draped in his shirt of white silk. His black pants and boots were wrinkled and a bit dirty, his hair creeping out of place in the growing humidity. Jongin still cowered before him, his nudity making him feel even more vulnerable. “You followed my song. You came to me for a second chance at life.” 

Jongin held his wrists together and raised them to the height of Heechul’s knees, face still tilted towards the ground.

“Then free me so I know it wasn’t all a lie.”

He could feel Heechul moving to kneel as well, one knee and then the next. The heaviness in Heechul’s eyes also plagued his movements even as his hands rose to grip Jongin’s presented wrists. 

“What does any omega know of freedom?” he asked, pulling Jongin closer, wrists feeling close to snapping in his grasp. “Show me. Look in the direction you would choose to go with your freedom and I can list a dozen things that would end you in days. What of the world do you truly know?”

Jongin bit his tongue, a familiar sense of dread growing within him.

“I… I must go to the Forest of Casia,” he said repeating the place Baekhyun had uttered to him. The being before him laughed. 

“Oh really? Only death awaits you there.”

“Why?”

“A war has begun. Though the humans and their hubris probably do not view it as a war. Not yet. But no matter the victor, you will find yourself in chains. The humans will enslave you for your last remaining moons of life or they will kill you on sight. The alphas will round up you and your omega friend, _Baekhyun_. You will be claimed by an alpha wolf who will murder your child and you will serve them like you have all your masters, enslaved by the dominance nature has granted the alphas of your kind. You are only an omega, a tool to be wielded. But tools… they can be cared for, not always discarded.” Heechul released the grip on his wrists and moved to brush the hair out of Jongin’s face. “I can tell you do not know much of care.”

The scar on Jongin’s hand began to pulse and a warmth grew in the back of his mind as Heechul held that hand in his own, soothing his body but not his heart or mind. So many words had come from the man’s mouth. It was difficult to understand. Jongin hated, _hated_ not understanding. _Hated_ being slow. War? Is that where Baekhyun had gone? Is that why Baekhyun did not follow the song? Did Jongin leave him so easily? When they had separated, he still could not clearly remember. Alpha? He had heard that word before. But he did not truly know what it meant. 

“I hurt people,” he said once overwhelmed by his other train of thought. It was not a question but his voice was still laced with some measure of doubt. And once he said it he could clearly see his past actions, could see the fresh blood on his hands as it had been when he ran through the night. 

“Yes,” Heechul said. “Because I told you to. Because you _wanted_ to. I am not your enemy.”

“Did they die?”

“Only the man.”

“Was… was he in pain?” 

“Yes,” Heechul said, traces of laughter in his voice. “A tremendous amount of pain. But I saw it in your mind. You _wanted_ him dead. You _wanted_ him to feel pain. I can never truly make you do something your heart of hearts does not want. You came to me, running from that burning town. Only I know your true desires, even the ones you do not admit to!”

Jongin shook his head even as Heechul moved to embrace him, holding him even as he struggled to be free. He could feel the warmth trying to invade his mind again but he resisted even as the scar on his hand pulsed and burned. 

“No… no, you don’t! You did somethin’ to me! I would never leave Baekhyun!” he yelled, pushing Heechul away roughly. But then he was struck powerfully across the face, the rest of his body crumbling into the grass only to be pulled up to his knees again by the roots of his hair. He met Heechul’s gaze head on. “If you’re lookin’ to break me, it’s already done. I can’t break anymore. Do you worst.” 

He gasped and held his bruising skin as Heechul released him. The man watched him with an unreadable look as Jongin quickly got to his feet, hands balled into fists and eyes stinging with tears of anger and desperation. 

“It’s true that I don’t know ‘bout many things. I don’t know 'bout the world. I don’t know where I am or how to take care of myself. And I hate the people who hurt me and I’m tired. I’m confused. And I’m afraid I killed a man but don’t feel sorry for it. It’s not how I was taught. But what does that matter when everything I knew was a lie? Those lies… made me think I deserved all that happened to me. Cause I’d broken a rule. But that’s wrong. I was wronged! For so long! Even now I can’t bear it! And you… you have powers that are not of this world. You showed me miracles. How could I understand such things? How could I not follow you? Even if I have been used my whole life, even if I have been dirt my whole life, I am a person who has known happiness! Joy! Love! So look into my heart of hearts and you will see. Get this silver off my body now or come dusk I will not follow you any further even if I should die a thousand deaths!”

Jongin’s throat burned and his chest heaved. He closed his eyes and braced himself for pain. But he did not care. The sound of nature around him was beautiful even in his chaos of his mind.

“There it is,” Heechul said, “your soul.”

All at once, Jongin’s five silver cuffs cracked in two and fell to the ground. 

His heart of hearts opened wide for the taking.

***

At dusk, Heechul pulled Jongin from where he lingered before his buried silver bindings and tattered gown. Sorcerers, Heechul had explained, in service of the Royal Hunters had a heightened sense for when a binding spell was broken. One as strong and volatile as Jongin’s no doubt had rippled across the land. The burial was precautionary. The threat of free wolves and aligned sorcerers to the north was a greater threat than the two of them who headed east. As if in a trance, Jongin followed him.

Together they rode through the night, Jongin falling in and out of slumber held against Heechul’s body. No words were exchanged between them but Jongin found himself clutching on the arm that held him as ominous sounds echoed through the darkness and strange winds darted and dove and swirled. Sometimes Jongin thought he saw the trees move, bending or twisting forward as if to look at him but not even a leaf actually touched him. In his mind, Heechul told him he was safe and protected so he continued to look upon this strange part of the world in awe despite his remaining exhaustion. 

Eventually the trees dwindled and the ground beneath them grew softer. From a spindly rotting tree rising from a pool of murky water, he could swear he saw a spider that rivaled the size of a rooster resting in the center of its web. He heard calls of creatures he could not identify and every so often he thought he saw shadows swaying back and forth in the distance. But that could not be possible. Shadows could not exist when the only light was of the moon and stars. 

By dawn, mist covered the marshlands, but Heechul navigated effortlessly through the swampy terrain until gradually the top point of what Jongin realized was a tent came into view. It was the grandest tent he had ever seen reaching as high as the stone walls of his prison in Palos but Heechul’s presence in his mind subtly warmed him, the tension leaving his body once again as he looked ahead with renewed wonder. 

Surrounding the tent were many smaller shelters; a mixture of tents, wagons, and what appeared to be cabins on wheels. Lanterns lit up the path giving the camp a mysterious glow. Jongin tensed when he saw a few people dressed similarly to him in black gathered by the front of a wagon.

_“Not human,”_ Heechul said to him in his mind. _“Not wolf.”_ As they passed, none of the people turned to acknowledge them. They simply stood huddled together, the brims of their hats obscuring their eyes. 

_“Then what are they?”_

_“Outcasts.”_

Jongin turned the word over in his mind until his head began to ache a bit. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. By the time Heechul helped him down from the horse it was difficult to stand. He clung to an adjacent wooden post to the one Heechul was securing the horse to and noticed that right behind them was the grand tent. Unlike everything else in the camp that were varying shades of brown, this large structure was striped red and white that swirled smaller and smaller the higher it went. 

“Humans will gather in there tonight,” Heechul said. “To view the performance of those that live here. But you need not worry. My brother remains distant from this side of the camp and you will remain by his side. You will be his companion on the path to healing.”

_Brother_ , that familiar word. 

After Jongin regained his bearings, the two of them walked away from the grand tent in a different direction more sparsely populated than the way they’d come in. They walked through what looked to be a vegetable garden and a storage area for lumber, rice, and other goods. Soon they reached a small cabin on wheels that faced the open marshlands just as the sun was poking its way over the horizon. Heechul knocked before entering, guiding Jongin inside by his shoulders. 

“Taemin,” he said into the darkness, “I have returned from Palos.” 

There was no light inside the cabin. Jongin imagined it would cause humans trouble but for him and beings… _sorcerers_ … like Heechul it probably was not a hindrance. However inside was only a bed, a rocking chair, walking stick, and a chest of what must be the brother’s belongings. The boy himself was already sitting up, his expression blank as he looked upon them. Looking closely, Jongin was surprised to see the boy’s eyes were as hazy as the mist outside. He had seen humans like this before. Taemin, he realized, was blind. 

Leaving Jongin by the door, Heechul went to his brother’s bedside and lowered himself to his knees reaching up to hold his brother’s hand.

“I brought an omega whose soul is bright but flickering. Does this please you?”

Taemin pulled his brother’s hand closer, cradling it in both of his palms, a finger trailing across the skin. He then leaned forward, hands running up Heechul’s face and back into his hair. The more he felt, the more he frowned.

“It pleases me,” Taemin said contrary to his expression. “Please leave us, brother.” 

Heechul stood, gaze lingering on his sibling. 

“I will check on you-”

“There is no need,” Taemin interrupted. “You must not let the audience down worrying over me. You have brought me everything I need. How fortunate am I to have a brother who loves me so?” 

On his way out, Heechul looked to Jongin briefly but offered him no words before heading back out into the mist. The door closed behind him and the cabin was plunged into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at life. Hopefully someone out there enjoyed... whatever this was.
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	11. ACT III: GOOD MEN - CHAPTER II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

On rare occasions, children would stay at Evergreen Inn. On one such occasion, Jongin was allowed to sit in on Master’s story time with them. Next to him that night sat a girl who, above all things, was afraid of the dark. Even under a starry night sky she would cower in terror, crying out about how the stars would fall and strike her like a needle piercing cloth. That is what Jongin compared it to at the time. He was very young, in his fourth or fifth year, and knew nothing of death. He did not know to fear such things so he thought her strange for crying beneath such a pretty sky.

Even now, darkness held no unique terror for him. His worst experiences had always happened in the light whether that be daylight or firelight. Darkness was calm. Darkness was peace. Darkness meant the humans were not around and no pain would befall him. In the complete darkness, Jongin could not see but he could orient himself. He could remember where the few items were in the small cabin. He could remember how the boy, the brother of Heechul called Taemin, sat in his bed. He could hear Taemin’s small movements that rustled his covers. 

“Come here please. Let me… see you properly.”

The words addressed to him made the lingering warmth in the back of his mind stronger. It compelled him to feel affection for this stranger. A desire to make him happy. A desire to do whatever he asked of him. And so like Heechul had done only minutes prior, Jongin went to Taemin’s bedside and knelt so he could touch him.

Taemin’s hands were cold, colder than any hands he had ever felt. They started from his hair, briefly lingering in the strands, down to his temples, flitting over his nose, mouth and cheeks. They rested on his neck for a moment as if feeling the beating of his heart, and stopped at the rough black fabric of his tunic.

“There is a price for defying nature,” he said in his soft voice. “This goes for all living things no matter human nor wolf nor sorcerer… nor other creatures in this land and lands far from here.” Taemin’s hands moved down Jongin’s arm until his fingers pressed into Heechul’s dark scar. “My brother has forgotten this one truth.”

Under Taemin’s touch, Jongin felt the warmth in his mind slowly ebb away until he could no longer notice it. Bubbling up from within him to replace it were questions, endless questions of all he had seen this day. He pulled away from the boy, falling back on the wooden floor as he tried to create more distance, tried to _see_. His back ran into a wall of the cabin. These walls in the darkness around him were suddenly unnerving, radiating warning, screaming something deeply unsettling. 

“Let us walk outside, omega.”

“Do not call me that!” Jongin spat, trying to regain his bearings. He reached out to his side and felt the rocking chair he’d seen earlier. He could sense Taemin ceasing his movements. 

“I apologize. I cannot reach into the mind like my brother can. If you have a name, please speak it so I may honor you.” Jongin pulled his arms against his chest, taken aback by the boy’s words. No one had ever spoken to him in such a way before. 

“I am Jongin. I am a free wolf of the mountains.” He heard Taemin move again and could almost feel the coldness of his body radiating around him.

“Hello Jongin. You may call me Taemin, brother of Heechul. I am a sorcerer of these marshlands. It is a pleasure to meet you. Will you walk outside with me? I think you will be calmer there.”

Untouched, the door to the cabin slowly opened. The light from outside reflected off of Taemin’s cloudy eyes and his long, golden hair. He wore simple clothes of all white, pants and a tunic secured with a sash, his feet bare. There was much Jongin still did not know of the world. Perhaps sorcerers were not angels sent from Heaven as he had once thought, but this boy surely looked the part, and like Heechul he had powers that were not of this world. 

So out of his element, outside the walls of Palos for the first time in so long, Jongin found himself having no choice but to trust, even if it was a stranger in this equally strange place. But Heechul freed him. Heechul was a good man. Heechul said Taemin would be his companion on the path to healing and with this in mind, Jongin shakily stood tracked by unseeing eyes.

Despite the passing of daybreak, the mist that settled over the camp had barely lifted. Taemin walked ahead of him with the aid of a walking stick to sit down at a simple table with chairs of tree stumps. On it was what appeared to be a pot of porridge. 

“Heechul leaves me breakfast even though I haven’t eaten it in some time,” Taemin said as Jongin sat opposite him. The pot seemed fresh yet there was only one bowl. Taemin filled the bowl and slid it towards him. “Please, do not let it go to waste.”

It is true that Jongin was very hungry, the journey having taken its toll on him. He let the outside of the bowl warm his hands. Taemin’s gaze lingered off in the distance. When he finally ate, what touched his tongue was good, better than anything he could ever recall tasting.

“They call it cinnamon,” Taemin said with a knowing smile. “It was brought here from a faraway place.” The young sorcerer filled his bowl again when the first serving had been emptied. Jongin couldn’t help but be a bit embarrassed of himself. He never ate so viciously before. Already this was more food than he ever had in one sitting, even with Master in the mountains. His stomach would surely ache if he had much more. But maybe feasting in such a way in this place would help with healing. Maybe his bones would show less prominently beneath his flesh. Maybe his baby would grow strong within him.

“Thank you,” he muttered, letting the aroma this time filter through his nose.

“It makes you happier, being outside.” Jongin opened his eyes and looked to see Taemin staring almost straight at him.

“There’s no fences out here. No walls ‘neither,” he said. 

“Not all walls are the same. Not all can be seen,” Taemin replied, gesturing in his general direction. “Your bindings, I presume my brother removed them for you.” Jongin nods but remembers he has to speak.

“Yes.”

“That is one example. A different type of wall. Another wall is knowledge. The world opens up to you and you become freer when you gain the ability to read. Can you read, Jongin?”

“No.”

“Has it ever crossed your mind?”

Jongin thought back to all the storybooks at Evergreen Inn. But in all those years, he could not recall ever getting a good look at the pages. He could picture what script looked like but outside of the books there was none of it in the house. None in the places he was kept in Palos either.

“No… no it hasn’t.”

“Another wall is a wall of the heart. The world expands and you become freer when you have a friend… or a lover. I have never had a friend. My brother has never had a lover. My whole life it has just been the two of us… but I have always longed for a friend.”

Part of Jongin wanted to question this. There seemed to be a fair amount of people who lived in this camp. Surely they would know Taemin well. Perhaps they were unnerved by his appearance. Perhaps Taemin’s blindness confined him to just this area. Soft spoken and polite, the boy did not look like he could be older than Jongin. He could even be a year or two younger.

“My brother lacks true sight into the soul,” Taemin said now just above a whisper. “But minds, intentions, desires… that is his gift. A slight but very important difference.” Taemin leaned in closer. “His intuition was right though. You have a beautiful soul. May I ask… what exactly he promised you if you followed him?”

“Silver poisonin’,” Jongin said. “He said I’ll die without help.” Taemin leaned back, a serious expression befalling his features.

“There is a price for defying nature,” he said, echoing his words from earlier. “My eyes. I can see nothing now, nothing but souls. It is my gift, the gift that will be my undoing as a sorcerer of these marshlands.” Jongin tried to understand the boy’s words but struggled greatly. “There is a kindred soul of yours that lurks in the mist. We will make remedies for you that will ease your pain. Then you will leave this place with your kindred. Together you will seek a healer of your kind, one far wiser than I. That is what I will do for you, Jongin, free wolf of the mountains.”

***

Taemin walked ahead of him through his garden, his walking stick prodding the path before him as he moved. He stopped every so often to point to a plant or vegetable. He told Jongin to gather various kinds, informing him what they were to be used for. Some combinations would help with the headaches, others would help with the dizziness. Even more were for fever and fatigue, symptoms that had yet to show for him.

“These things will cure me?” he asked once they sat together in an empty patch of soil.

“No. As I said, you will need to find a healer. I know only one cure for silver poisoning… it is old knowledge. But the source of it is too far from here. Your soul fades quickly. You would not survive the journey.” Jongin paused his work as at that moment the familiar dizziness rocked through him. Taemin instructed him to take one of the roots they’d pulled and sucked on it, feeling the essence of the plant run down his throat. It did not seem to do much immediately and Taemin informed him they would need to harvest a lot more to make suitable doses.

“You used a word before,” Jongin said, gritting his teeth through the sensation. “What does ‘kindred’ mean?”

“It… could mean a lot of things. I have not spent much time around wolves,” he admitted. “But as I said, I have the gift of seeing one’s soul and before today it is true that I have seen one that matches yours. I believe this means the bearer of the soul is your mate, your fated… your alpha.” Taemin said these words as if he were narrating a wonderful dream but Jongin shuddered at the mention of alpha.

“And what if I don’t wanna meet this kindred soul?”

“It is in your best interest to do so.”

“Heechul told me of my people. That if I were to meet them, I would be locked away. That wolves called alphas would… enslave me as the humans did. Hurt me.”

Taemin seemed to take a long time to process his words, frown evident. 

“What my brother told you is a half truth. Some alphas are violent, lost to the beast inside of them. Others are kind, gentle, and overly giving. Of course we all have the ability to hurt each other, even the ones we love. I have no right to ask you to trust me… but I can tell you that as a sorcerer I have never seen such a phenomenon in my entire life, short as it may have been.” 

Like many things Taemin said, Jongin did not know how he should respond. He had met good people and bad people in the world. Far more bad than good. If these good alphas existed, why were they not in Palos? Why had he never seen or heard of one? What about them made them alphas? Would he have been able to tell if he had seen one? Would Taemin know of such things? Would Taemin be able to tell from someone’s soul if they were alpha or omega?

“I can sense that you are probably worried, Jongin. But I will show you. I will teach you the things of the world that I know. I will get rid of as many walls and fences as possible. There should be a bucket. Just over there. Will you bring it to me?” he asked. Jongin found the bucket near the boundary of the garden and placed it before the young sorcerer. 

“I was not always blind. I learned to read when very young. Now it is easier to form words… to feel words like this.” From the bucket, Taemin took a handful of rocks and began to shape them in the soil. “Come look at this from next to me. Do you think it is pretty?”

Jongin sat beside him and looked at what Taemin had made.

“I… I suppose so.”

“This is your name. This is how it is written.” Of all responses, it was one Jongin was least expecting. Curious, he leaned in closer.

“Really?”

“Yes! Try copying it in the dirt. Write it with your finger. Memorize it for it is you!”

It was impossible for Jongin to remember all the words Taemin showed him but with the rocks he formed his own name, omega, beta, alpha, pack, moon and mate, explaining what they meant. With words he painted a beautiful picture, one far different from Heechul’s. It was like a story told from two different perspectives. It filled Jongin’s mind with much to think about.

“So why have I only seen omegas?” he finally had enough courage to ask.

“The war,” Taemin said simply. “I heard that humans found alphas and betas to be too dangerous. That they killed any that they found and only kept omegas. So if the soul I saw really is your mate, it is truly a miracle that he survived.”

“He?” Jongin asked and to his surprise, Taemin blushed. 

“Yes. In my mind’s eye I have seen him. I know he calls himself Sehun.”

“Sehun,” Jongin repeated, the name feeling natural on his lips. He held his hand over his stomach where his baby secretly slept. He had not yet mentioned its existence to Taemin.

They played together all day in the garden and in the nearby grass. It was peaceful and calm. Jongin could hear the activities of others in the camp off in the distance but no one came to speak to Taemin. The loudest of sounds came from the grand tent. But in the quiet moments they shared together, Jongin tracing his finger through the soil and Taemin caressing a budding flower, he could not help but feel that something was off.

It was the absence of birds he noticed first. The skies were empty of them. Then after hours in the garden, it was the absence of bugs he noticed. There was not a single breeze all day either, nothing to make the plants around them sway. Perhaps this strange aspect of the marshlands is also what made Taemin feel so lonely. Without sight, surely one would miss these sounds that until today Jongin thought were a given part of nature.

***

The booming performance that radiated through the camp slowly settled as did the sound of people, horses, and carriages leaving down the main road in either direction off into nothingness. Taemin said that he might hear or smell ale which would be plentiful, that he might see lingering drunkards entranced and wanting to see more, that this was common at any circus. Circus was a word Jongin did not know. He would need to ask the sorcerer about it later. Perhaps in the morning. 

Inside Taemin’s cabin it was quiet as they washed each other’s feet by candlelight. A small hatch in the rooftop let in the light of the moon, the vegetable soup and bread they’d had for supper making Jongin warm and sleepy. Taemin seemed to have developed a fascination playing with his fingers. They had made a game out of it, trying to wrestle each other’s thumbs. It was all very childish but Jongin figured he would’ve been much like the other boy if he had never left Evergreen Inn. It was endearing but sad at the same time. There might be no silver that hurt him and no walls that kept him but it was apparent that in many ways Taemin was dependent on Heechul. That is why no matter how much the fourteen year old sorcerer longed for many things, all he had was his cabin and his garden because this was all he was given.

“You made me very happy today, Jongin,” the boy said after letting out a deep yawn. “This might have been the happiest and most exciting day of my entire life. But do not worry. It is ok if you do not feel the same.”

“No, it was fun! The remedies I learned to make, the words I learned to write… I owe you a lot.” 

He could tell that Taemin wanted to say more, could tell that Taemin was already thinking about the day Jongin would have to leave this unlikely sanctuary. They might only have a two year difference in age, but part of Jongin couldn’t help but feel like Taemin had only just learned how to walk despite the vast amount of herbal knowledge he had and despite how elegant his words sounded. It almost hurt him, how much Jongin saw of his former self in Taemin’s joyousness. He hoped someday Taemin would be able to safely experience all the good things the world had to offer. 

“Is it… alright if I say you were my friend? I so very desperately want to shout it to the skies.” Taemin’s firelit face was tense with anticipation as he awaited Jongin’s reponse, so Jongin took him by the hands to soothe him.

“Taemin, brother of Heechul, sorcerer of the marshlands, friend of Jongin. Sounds nice to me.” The boy broke out into laughter before hugging Jongin tightly.

But Taemin tensed and pushed him away just before Heechul opened the door to the cabin. He looked between the two of them sitting together on the floor, confused. 

“What is the meaning of this? Brother, did you… did you discover the way?” Despite addressing Taemin, he looked at Jongin as he spoke, an unbridled look of hope in his eyes.

“No,” Taemin said, standing up. “I am still Taemin.”

“Then why do you hesitate?” Heechul said, switching his gaze to his brother. The longer Taemin stood without saying anything, the angrier Heechul seemed to become. “Why does the omega still live? Is he not everything you wanted? Is his soul not suitable for you to claim?”

Instead of offering words, Taemin burst into tears. With each wail the cabin swayed and the candle on the floor was extinguished plunging them into near complete darkness. When Heechul moved forward to embrace Taemin, Jongin did not hesitate. He pushed down his rising panic, hurt, and confusion as he ran from the cabin.

Outside the mist was thick but he knew he was still on the edge of the camp. As he ran past the garden he could’ve sworn he saw the mist move like thin fingers or the legs of a spider. Soon the mist was so thick he could not see anything in any direction, he just moved forward even when the ground beneath him became less solid and the grass grew taller.

Heechul was expecting him to be dead. Taemin was to take his soul? How could he understand such things? How many lies had been told to him?

Soon the mist began to thin and the next moment he stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him was a garden. Just beyond that, a cabin. In the distance, a grand tent. How could this be possible?

Panic began to overcome him as he took a sharp left running an entirely new direction and the same thing happened: the mist grew thick, the ground unsteady, until it finally cleared to reveal the same garden, the same cabin, the same grand tent.

The scar on his hand began to itch then burn as he reversed directions again, this time deciding to stay huddled against the soggy ground in the thickest of the mist, blind no matter which way he looked. 

_“Why do you run?”_ Heechul’s voice said in his mind. Jongin covered his ears as tightly as he could with his hands, sunk his toes further into the watery ground, and closed his eyes. _“You will never leave this place unless I allow it.”_

_“Don’t hurt him! Please!”_ he heard Taemin’s voice echo through his mind but far more faintly. It was as if it was coming through the far end of a cave rather than spoken directly into his ears. 

He screamed as the ground began to shake and opened his eyes in time to see tall wooden walls burst from the earth on every side of him, so close that he could barely extend his arms. Then there was pain, an unbearable agony, as he felt something large pierce through his back.

Jongin struggled to breath, hands shaking as he looked down to see a long silver spike protruding from his stomach, covered in his blood as even more spilled and spurted from his body. 

He called for God but all that emerged from his lips was more blood. 

The stars of the sky did nothing to illuminate this cruel fate, this betrayal. Like this, he was forced to accept death. Like this, he found fear in the darkness right as it consumed his mind, body, and soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys.... this story is fun to write but also hard af because... I don't know if it is easy for readers to follow along. 
> 
> So if you are somewhere out in the internet abyss reading this and are totally lost or really don't like whatever this thing is you just read... please tell me. I'm having a crisis of confidence. XD
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	12. ACT III: GOOD MEN - CHAPTER III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Hell. Master had never spoken of it but lodgers sometimes did. So Jongin did not know if hell was real like Heaven. If anything, hell only existed in nightmares, an illusion brought on by dark dreams. All one had to do to escape it was to open their eyes, to wake up. It wasn’t real. This wasn’t real.

“Jongin! Jong, Jong, Jong, Jongin? Jongiiiin. Oh gosh, Jongin stop sleepin’! You sleepin’ too much I got no one ta play wit me!”

Jongin groaned against the hands shoving him, burrowing his face into his bed of hay. It was so warm. When was the last time he had felt this comfortably warm? He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of the familiar wooden wall of his shed, the light of day shining through the cracks he’d have to seal up again with mud come winter. Turning around he was met with the eager face of little Taeyong who sat with his legs crossed holding his old wooden figures in his hands.

“Taeyong?” he asked groggily. It felt as if he had slept more just now than he had in his whole life, every bone and muscle in his body well rested.

Instead of responding, Taeyong simply dragged him out of bed, squatting on the grass outside with the figures. Jongin stared at them for a long moment: the lean and strong carving of a Royal Hunter next to the large and dominating Wild Beast. These toys were beautiful but they were bad. They were all part of the lie he had been told.

Lies. 

How did he get here?

Jongin looked up at the back of Evergreen Inn and back down to Taeyong, the child looking up at him now in concern.

“Don’t be sad,” the boy said. “Remember? Nuttin to be sad about no more.” 

Somehow it was like Jongin could get a sense of all Taeyong was feeling. He soothed him until the clenched feeling in his chest went away. Everything is fine. Everyone is safe. The position of the sun told him it was almost midday. There must be lots of work to do.

“I’m so sorry, Jongin. Is Taeyong bothering you?”

Jongin looked up to see Junmyeon approaching them, a basket of fresh linens in his arms. Taeyong ran to him, grabbing onto the hem of his tunic. Junmyeon’s hair was just as long and silky as he remembered but this time the feelings present in his voice reached his eyes in a way it never had in Palos.

“No, I… I wasn’t bein’ bothered.”

“Well while that’s good, Taeyongie here should be fetching the water. Isn’t that right, little one?” Beside him, Taeyong pouted.

“Yes Papa…”

“Off you go then.” Taeyong shuffled away and Junmyeon bent down to where Jongin was still kneeling in the grass. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you feeling ill again?”

Jongin couldn’t do much more than stare. As he tried to think it was like everything in his mind was hazy, out of reach. Because of this, his words failed him. Junmyeon pressed a hand against his forehead.

“You don’t seem to be running a temperature. Maybe you should go rest with your pups instead. You’re still recovering after all.”

“My… pups?” Jongin followed Junmyeon’s line of sight. Off in the distance in the shade of the trees he saw Baekhyun and someone else sitting on a blanket with four moving balls of fur. 

Jongin shot up to his feet, allowing Junmyeon to steady him as he slightly lost his balance. But then he was moving across the grass as fast as his dazed mind could take him until the small balls of fur became curious, uncoordinated animals. Wolves. The wolves God gave him. He looked up to Baekhyun and then froze when getting a better look at the second figure. It was almost difficult to recognize him like this, looking so happy and healthy. The nameless boy from the fields.

“Finally!” Baekhyun sighed. “They’re restless. Zitao and I could hardly get them to settle.”

He looked from the pups, to Baekhyun, to Zitao who was fretting with the edge of the blanket that one of the pups had trapped between its tiny teeth. Jongin sat across from them and became still as Baekhyun gently placed one in his arms. Jongin looked down at it, in awe of its softness, hit powerfully with a surge of love and protectiveness. In front of him, the others tried to get his attention as well.

“I can’t believe out of four pups only one of them managed to be an omega. He’s too sweet to be around his sisters,” Zitao said, assisting Baekhyun with keeping the other three at bay. Jongin held his own closer to his chest, waves of contentment rolling off the small omega in his arms. 

“Well there’s too many omegas around here already as it is if you ask me,” Baekhyun said with a laugh. “Where’s your mate gone off to anyway, Jongin?”

Mate. He knew that word. His mate that he loved, who would be his life companion. Jongin didn’t realize he had started to cry until Zitao pressed in next to him, rubbing his back.

“Still having those pregnancy mood swings it seems. Maybe you should go find him. Is he not off on the grounds somewhere? Maybe by the creek?”

“Yeah… by the… by the creek. My mate…” 

Jongin stood up with the omega pup, willing his arms to not shake with the weight of all he was feeling. He looked back towards Evergreen Inn where Junmyeon hung newly washed linens and Taeyong struggled with a large pail of water.

The pup in his arms whined a bit, and Jongin cradled him like he distantly remembered in stories, surprised when it braced its paws on his chest to lick at his face.

“Look,” he whispered, willing his baby to gaze up at the tree canopy. “Isn’t it pretty here? I never… never thought I’d walk through here with someone like this. It might seem big but don’t worry. The animals here will slowly become your friends. And I’ll… I’ll be the best papa you could ever have. I’ll tell ya stories and you’ll see how good the world can be. I’ll take ya to see waterfalls and every flower that blooms.” The omega rubbed himself up against the tears rolling down Jongin’s cheeks. “And you won’t have to use up your prayers on nothin’ but… givin’ thanks.” 

He jumped, startling the pup when he heard applause coming from behind him, turning around to see Heechul. Immediately Jongin angled himself to shield what he held in his arms.

“Not happy to see me, I take it? Are you so easily fooled?” For each step forward Heechul took, Jongin took another step back. “You certainly must realize by now that I can make you feel anything I want you to feel. I can make you see anything I want you to see. I need no chains to restrain you, no weapon to hurt you. I can give you happiness and peace,” he said, eyes lowering to the pup that poked its head up to look at him. “Or I could make you suffer, effortlessly, for as long as you and I both live.” 

From the distance he heard the terrified screams and cries for mercy of his pack until they were silenced, the thick smell of their blood cogging the air. Around him, all the pretty colors drained from the forest.

But this was impossible. He had woken up from his nightmare, his hell of walls. He had woken up in an equally impossible place, a place only possible with the help of miracles. 

_Miracles._

He really was a fool.

Now Heechul was only a breath away. Jongin’s body was immobile as his pup was torn from his arms. It yipped and whined held in the air by Heechul’s complete grip around its skull, hand squeezing until there was a sick cracking and crunching noise. It died instantly, the strings of its life that connected it to Jongin, severed. 

“I’m ready for you to wake up now.”

***

It was pure, unmatched sorrow that rolled through Jongin’s mind as he yelled and cried into the open night air, so powerful that he felt nothing even as Heechul pressed him into the soft ground, the mist thick around them.

“You’ve been a bad omega. Very bad. Very disrespectful. But it’s alright. I’ve got you,” he murmured into his ear. “I can reach all the way through you because you let me in. Remember? You let me in because in the moment when I freed you, you trusted me so _completely_ . And you can be sure I’ll never let you go.” Heechul gripped both sides of Jongin’s face, his hands cold and clammy. “Did you like that paradise? Well I gave it to you. You thought I was an angel? No. Think of me as your god. I _am_ your god. I am _God_!” 

“NO!” he cried, and it was as if he had known nothing in all his years of life except the misery that shattered him now so completely the way the emotion unnaturally smothered his mind.

“You feel all this? I can make it go away. I can put you back in that place, with your pack, with your pups, with whatever fantasy Taemin in his naivety planted in your head. All you need to do is let go, give yourself to my brother. Surrender yourself. It’s the only way for you to save each other. He must inhabit your body. In doing so, your soul will be transported back to that paradise forever. You will be happy. Your body will thrive. The life inside of you will grow. Everyone you have ever lost will return to you. Most importantly, Taemin will no longer be in pain. Because the pain you’re feeling right now? He feels it too. Tenfold. You will complete each other. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want him to not be so lonely?” 

Pressed beneath Heechul, Jongin could hardly even begin to comprehend the words that were being said. But when he was finally able to force more words from his mouth, he could only beg.

“Make… m-make… please… make it stop… “

“That’s not enough!” he yelled, spit landing in his face.

“Master… God… please…” 

“More! Give up on this world!” The palm of Heechul’s hand pressed roughly against his forehead. 

“I’m s-sorry… so sorry…”

“Yes. That’s it. That’s good…” 

Soon Jongin could no longer feel the dampness in the air or the ground beneath him or Heechul’s touch. The world grew smaller, shrinking until it was like looking through a wide window suspended in a void of nothingness. 

***

Jongin couldn’t stop crying, couldn’t stop hearing things coming from the darkness. Instead of torment radiating from within him, now he felt only foreboding, hopelessness, completely forsaken. 

_“What did you do to him?”_

_“You gave me no choice, Brother.”_

Jongin looked up to the window at the sound of the familiar voices, much clearer than the ominous murmurs coming from the darkness. Through it, he met the blind eyes of that boy. Taemin. He was crouched over as if holding the body Jongin could not feel anymore. The young sorcerer's was badly bruised and bleeding as if he had been relentlessly beaten.

_“Jongin. Whatever he did to you, whatever he showed you, it is a lie. It’s all lies,”_ he said. _“You have a mate out there who will love and cherish you, who will get you the medicine you need. He needs you.”_

_“You’re still delaying!”_ Heechul’s angry voice echoed around him and Jongin felt yet another new wave of despair. 

_“Can’t you hear it?,”_ Taemin’s voice said again. _“Your soul is singing. It is the one part of you Heechul cannot control. None of this is real. That big tent? It is nothing but a wooden skeleton. These wagons? They have been long abandoned, sunken into the ground, decaying and covered in moss. The people you have seen? They are nothing but ghosts.”_ Taemin disappeared from the window and Jongin could tell his own body must have been discarded on the ground now as he saw Heechul drag Taemin further away. _“They’re ghosts of all that used to be here!_ ” the boy shouted now. _“The shows Heechul puts on? The sounds you heard? A delusion of his own making! I need you to understand! I need you to come back! Brother… brother no. Please!”_

Jongin began to cry even more heavily. Wasn’t he supposed to stop Taemin’s pain? Wasn’t the boy supposed to be in here with him? Wasn’t everyone he’d ever lost supposed to be here? If so, then what was this? Where was his true and real Heaven?

He watched on still as Heechul used the unnervingly familiar motion of stabbing his fingers into Taemin’s eyes as he screamed. 

_“We are so close to discovering the secret,”_ Heechul said. _“You told me yourself. Only together can we break the sorcerer’s curse. And they will regret what they did to us.”_

_“I w-won’t hurt… anyone else.”_

_“THE OMEGA WANTS TO DIE! THEY ALL WANTED TO DIE!”_

_“Because you manipulated them.”_

Jongin let the words wash over him and he watched as Heechul’s red hands wrapped around a heavy blade. Even though Taemin could no longer cry, his eyes completely dug out of his sockets, he still screamed as his brother brought the weapon down on his arm over and over again until everything below his elbow was separated from his body.

_“LEAVE THIS BODY! NOW! YOU WILL NOT DEFY ME AGAIN!”_ Heechul raised the weapon again, this time above Taemin’s other arm.

_“I lied!”_ He cried out again through his pain when the weapon landed, more of his blood staining the ground.

_“What?”_ Heechul asked sharply.

_“I… n-never wanted this! I just wanted you to… to love me! There’s no such thing as eternal life! It defies nature! Not even dark magic can defy nature!”_

Above him, Heechul’s body shook with anger.

_“You will not trick me.”_

Jongin watched as Taemin’s head turned to face him, what was left of his arm reaching out. The thick sword was raised again before being sheathed straight through his chest. One moment, two moments, and he lay dead. 

Jongin buried his head in his hands until he felt a cold presence beside him and small fingers running through his hair. With him in the darkness now was a little boy he did not recognize. But he knew. Somehow, he knew this was Taemin. The boy took each of his hands in his own and looked around at the darkness.

_“This is me,”_ he said. _“I wanted you to see the real me just this once so you'll know when you see me again."_

The boy disappeared and he was alone again. All was silent. But soon Heechul leaned over the window to his soul. His face was serene, the way he gathered Jongin’s body into his arms shy and hesitant, so unlike the man he knew but so much like a boy that he did know. 

Jongin might not have understood but once again he knew. 

This, too, was Taemin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if that wasn't clear.... once again, let me know. @___@ 
> 
> *rolls over and dies*
> 
> Just hang with me there! Give this the benefit of the doubt! We're almost done with this act!
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	13. ACT III: GOOD MEN - CHAPTER IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences. 
> 
> ***This is a double update. Good Men: Chapter III was also just posted. Please go back and read if you missed it!

A small fire burned outside of the cabin. It was dawn, the end of the long night. Jongin sat with the blanket that had been wrapped around him. When Heechul’s body lowered next to him, it did so awkwardly, like the soul inhabiting it needed to get used to the longer limbs. With shaky hands he offered a familiar porridge swirled with cinnamon. 

Off in the distance, Taemin’s body was covered in burlap. The mist was thinner than he’d ever seen it before. It revealed the once lantern lit camp now nothing more than ruins. The once great tent looked like it had aged and weathered for years in just a single night. The only thing that stood as it had was the cabin and the garden. Taemin’s cage.

But no. This is what this place had always looked like. Jongin was simply seeing it free from Heechul’s layered illusions for the first time.

“Taemin was a boy from a village located a five day’s journey from here on horseback. Like all of my victims, I told Heechul to address me with his name… to honor him,” Heechul’s body said, voice soft similar to how it had been coming out of Taemin’s body. “He had the soul of an autumn leaf: beautiful but in the twilight of its journey just like yours except he… his mind was not well. I told myself I was taking away his pain. Heechul always somehow managed to convince me that was what I was doing but for him I believe it was true. When Heechul brought him to me, he was under no spell, no enchantment. He found him with poison berries in his pocket. He was preparing to end his own life… even before Heechul came along. When I took his soul, I came to know he followed Heechul so… so Sehun would not be the one to find his body when he came back from fishing that day.” 

Perhaps realizing that Jongin had no energy to eat, the bowl of porridge was put on the ground next to him, his blanket adjusted as another residual shiver went through him. 

“But me… I am Brother. I was never given another name. I was born nine years ago and I have lived in these marshlands for eight of those years. I am… I don’t know exactly what I am. I just know that I was born of dark magic. Regular sorcerers, in a somewhat different way, are gifted _with_ magic rather than born _of_ it. These past days you have seen magic. It may seem all powerful but it is not. It has a cost. It _is_ life energy. You are only born with so many beats of the heart. Each time a sorcerer uses magic, it takes heartbeats away. My brother always believed I could prevent this somehow because I was different. For hundreds and hundreds of years, sorcerers have sought how to live forever, some reigning their power down on innocents, others repressing their magic entirely, living until they were very old. 

“To be born _of_ magic… _dark_ magic… it is unnatural. It is volatile to the human form. Left alone, my original body would have broken apart and died in hours but… my brother loved me from the moment I was born. Mother always hated him and I am the one who killed her, ripping a hole through her body like a chick through the shell of its egg. Hers was the only soul I could truly absorb to sustain life. I did not do it consciously, it was just in my nature. I do not even remember doing it. I never… I never _wanted_ to hurt anyone. I just wanted to see my brother happy. All through his childhood he was tortured… yet he was so kind to me. _Protected_ me. 

“We could not stay with the Order. It was obvious what I was. They feared me. I am not the first of my kind. My father was a strong man, the second soul I took, but in his body I did not know how to make the legs work. I could not speak. I was just a newborn, I could only cry. But through my brother’s bewitching curse, I was able to walk and hold onto him as we rode away from that place. We ran for so long, were hunted. Eventually we found refuge in the village of the marshlands. They took us in. They were wonderful people. But Heechul preyed among them. It was only a matter of time until they noticed what was going on. So on the evening a traveling group of performers was in the village, we combined magic to cast a powerful enchantment. It was an enchantment of dark magic, the only magic I knew. The only magic I’m capable of. 

“Slowly, this land was poisoned. But I was content back then. I did not have to worry when my body would begin to fail, there was always another person who would come in with a smile on their face who would kneel before me, the claws of my brother’s magic controlling their minds. I tried to ignore that their souls were screaming for mercy. I would always take them gently. For the longest time, my brother did not even know I could actually see souls. I tried so hard to ignore how his own soul was slowly blackening with time just like the spirit of the marshlands. Corrupting him. 

“The enchantment had consequences for me as well. My magic was tied in with it in such a way that outside of this place I cease to exist. It is my prison. The mist, my walls. But with each person I inhabited, the more I learned about the world for I could see all they had seen. Once the villagers were all dead, my brother would go out hunting. For a long time I was a series of beautiful women. Heechul was happy pleasuring himself with my bodies then but eventually lost interest. He, too, was lonely. I was afraid I had become a burden but gradually over the years I learned that all of what we were doing was wrong. I learned about evil from the souls who would sit and talk with me as I sat and spoke to you when you were trapped in your own darkness. 

“My brother moved each of the old bodies to the marsh, but their spirits still haunt this place. I could see them everywhere and it brought me so much despair that… he blinded me. Out of love. That body,” he said gesturing to Taemin’s corpse, “and every other body I have been in for about a year now… that is what he did first. I could still see them though. The souls. It is my gift, after all. But the darkness did little to ease my growing distress. 

“But even I, a monster, could not defy nature. With each body I took, a small piece of me was taken away. With each transfer, I died a little more, a piece of me left behind in the rotting bodies. And my brother? His soul, once beautiful, had finally become as black as the night. I couldn’t ignore the evilness of all I had done any longer. He loved me very much but it had been twisted beyond all recognition. I know this now. As I speak, he screams inside of this body as I snuff him out. I can feel his hatred clearly now, more clearly than I ever could even when he would beat me and pleasure himself with me.

“I told him that we must destroy this place, that I would not take another soul but… each time he would physically tortue the body I was in and mentally torture the new body he brought for me until I relented. Even with all he had done to me, I did not want to kill him… so I killed an innocent person, manipulated until they truly thought death was a mercy. He thought that as I grew, I would learn the impossible. That instead of taking bodies and burning through them, I could absorb them. It was to be the first step to immortality. He was so sure I could do it, believing in false myths, that he unflinchingly used such strong magic on you and so many others. It comforts me now to know that even if I had not taken his soul, he could not have kept any of this up for much longer before he started to decay. 

“So please believe me. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I didn’t want to be bad. All this time I was just… I was afraid to die, I suppose. Afraid to finally let my brother down. My plan was to stall more, teach you things before getting you out of here, my brother none the wiser. Taemin had a strong body. It would have been good for another week or two. But he didn’t buy it. I could not stall so he brought you unbearable pain. When I first saw you, I knew I had seen your kindred… Taemin’s wolf friend… I thought I could do something good. Taemin thought so too. He didn’t want Sehun to be alone. And you were so kind to me. You liked playing with me. You didn’t make me feel like a monster. You made me feel like… a child. A real child.”

Jongin continued to stare into the fire. Beside him, Brother looked at a loss.

“Brother?” Jongin whispered finally. “To… to trick me,” he continued, thinking back to when he first met Heechul. “Did he lie about my baby?”

The boy placed his hand over his own.

“I’m sorry, Jongin."

Eventually he was guided back into the cabin and tucked beneath the sheets Taemin’s body and so many other bodies had occupied. Brother ground herbs sitting in his rocking chair, urging Jongin to ingest some with delicate hands.

All that was told to him churned in his head. While at first he was afraid to fall asleep, whatever Brother had fed to him aided in relaxing him until he felt the first tendrils of rest pulling him under.

“You’re not a monster to me,” Jongin muttered.

In his final conscious moment before sleeping, he saw the first tear fall from Brother’s new eyes.

***

When Jongin woke up, there was the smell of approaching rain and he was alone. He felt a lot more like himself even though he was still fatigued. It was his first time sleeping in a real bed. The only other time he’d even lain in one was when Chungho wanted to use his body. Now he made sure to tidy up the sheets just like he had done so many times to so many other beds before wrapping the blanket around him that Brother had given him earlier by the fire.

Outside he did not see Brother in the garden either but after walking along the road of the long dead village, he saw Brother walking towards him with Heechul’s horse. As he got closer, Jongin noticed Taemin’s wrapped up body secured on its back.

“Did you rest well, friend?” the boy asked. 

“Yes. Thank you for letting me use your bed. I haven’t known that sort of kindness before.”

Something deep within him still reacted negatively to Heechul’s appearance. Maybe it is why Brother had briefly touched his soul, appearing before him. He looked into Heechul’s eyes knowing they were the same eyes as that little boy, the same one who only the day before had laughed with him in his garden.

“Sehun will want to know what became of Taemin. Their relationship is… an unusual one. But as you are his kindred, I will leave that story for him to tell. Along with other supplies, you will take this horse carrying his body. It will be key for Sehun accepting all that has happened.” Jongin nodded in understanding, reaching up to pet the dark horse. 

“What will become of you though? Where will you go?” Brother looked at him fondly for a moment before looking up into the gray sky.

“There is a price for defying nature, Jongin. I have been living on borrowed time. Just like with Heechul, even if you had not come along, I had little time left. Now with what remains of my brother… inside of me is a storm. Us combined in this body is almost as unstable as the body I was born in.”

“You mean… you’re dying?” Jongin whispered. “What if you leave this place with me? You said it was enchanted, cursed. End it and at least die somewhere… somewhere-”

“This place is beautiful in its own way. Like where you lived in the mountains, this might be my cage but it is also my home. I will disappear with it.”

Just like Brother’s soul had touched Jongin’s, he now once again held each of his hands with his own, squeezing them reassuringly. 

“How much time do you have? I can stay with you… until you pass.”

Brother reached into his pocket and took out what looked to be a small rock. To anyone’s eye it would appear to be entirely unremarkable and Brother laughed at the confusion that must’ve been showing on Jongin’s face.

“A modest charm for a modest wolf. I want to try something that I have never tried before. It is the type of enchantment you can only try once. I never properly learned magic like my brother did but I learned many things from him while you slept. Ancient things. When I pour all of my remaining heartbeats into this stone… it will become something powerful. While its core, like me, might be of dark magic, it will only respond to you if your heart remains pure. In the brief moment I spent within you, I felt your love for your god. Hold this stone when you pray and if it is the right time, its magic will be released. Do you understand?”

“I… think so… Yes, I understand.” 

The two of them walked to the garden, Brother insisting they pick it until it was bare. He also packed Jongin grains and a whole jar of cinnamon, loading it onto the horse. Along with a well packed satchel, around Jongin’s waist he secured a dagger; one of many Heechul had stolen.

“Brother, please, is this not enough?” Jongin asked, managing a small smile as the boy took the blanket he’d been holding to roll up and secure to his bag. 

“Heechul truly seemed to believe there is a war out there somewhere. Even without that, you have a long journey ahead of you. Please do not take it lightly.”

It was a sobering remark but already Jongin’s journey had been long. For years he had been pulled from place to place yet now he was setting off willingly on his own. Now he had a goal. Now he had some idea of what lay ahead. 

Together on the front steps of the cabin, they shared the last of the porridge. Brother took a long look up at the gray sky, the occasional drop of rain now turning into a steady drizzle. 

“I’m ready,” Brother said to the clouds.

He retreated back into the cabin and Jongin wandered in after him, knowing without any further words what was about to happen. Still not used to his longer limbs, Brother settled on top of his bed like it was his first time laying it, exhaling as he leaned back against the pillow.

Like when they had first met, Jongin knelt by his bedside, the memory of Master’s old story cutting through him. Already he had cried so much but when Brother smoothed his hand over his hair, he felt himself beginning to cry again. He was well acquainted with death, but this is the first time he was getting a chance to prepare for someone he cared for making their journey to Heaven. With everyone else it had been sudden, unexpected, and gruesome. This was sad but it was peaceful, gentle. 

“Taemin wanted to pass along a message to Sehun and he was ok with me passing it through you,” he said. “He wants your kindred to know that there is more than one way to be an alpha.” Jongin tried to pull himself together a bit and nodded.

“I’ll make sure to tell him… when I find him.”

“He waits on the edge of this cursed land out of harm’s way. He is loyal. With a nose as good as his, you should not be looking for him for very long.” Perhaps this was Brother’s way of telling him that he was not alone just like everything the boy had given him today was meant to convey the same thing.

“And I have something to tell you, my friend,” Brother said, lifting Jongin’s chin. “Right now… I am afraid. But it’s ok to be afraid of death. I have felt many people die and they were all afraid so… in that I know I am not alone. Will you hold me… while I go?”

“Yes… yes, of course.” Jongin settled next to him in the small bed. Brother moved to lay his head on his chest, his hand clenched around the stone he had since fashioned with rope so Jongin could secure it around his neck for safekeeping. “You are my friend… and you are loved,” Jongin whispered to him.

He wrapped his arms around the sorcerer tighter as he started muttering strange words, words that grew quieter and quieter. It did not look like it caused him pain. It did not feel like the dark magic Jongin had come to know.

Like this, a boy went to Heaven. 

***

The first thing Jongin noticed was the dark scar fading from his hand. The second was the wind that made the walls of the cabin groan just very slightly, the first wind he had felt since entering the marshlands. He had been told that he must move quickly, that if he did not then he would be caught in the unravelling of this cursed place. He was told, nevertheless, to walk calmly and to not look back. Darkness of this kind feeds off of fear.

Beneath the rainy sky he grabbed the horse’s lead and began walking the opposite direction of the remains of a once grand tent. It was also the opposite way in which he had first arrived in the camp. Going back through that forest with all of its mysterious and unseen dangers was not an option but heading back towards Palos was the last thing he wanted to do anyway. 

With the first step he took, he broke again and began sobbing openly until reaching for a tune he had made in his mind years ago but had never sang aloud. He never voiced it aloud because for all these years he was forbidden from speaking. He had lost his voice but now he was truly free. 

_“Papa is sleepin’_

_I mustn’t make a sound,_

_Papa is sleepin’_

_Underneath the ground._

_The nameless are sleepin’_

_I mustn’t make a sound,_

_The nameless are sleepin’_

_Underneath the ground.”_

With the rain, the once solid path was now unsteady with mud but he felt ahead each step before committing to it, the horse thankfully having no trouble behind him.

_“Taeyong is sleepin’_

_I mustn’t make a sound,_

_Taeyong is sleepin’_

_Underneath the ground._

_Taemin is sleepin’_

_I mustn’t make a sound,_

_Taemin is sleepin’_

_Underneath the ground.”_

His eyes wandered to the pools of the marshland around him. Just like he had been told, now free of his curse he could see all the bodies trapped just beneath the surface from children to elders. 

_“Brother is sleepin’_

_I mustn’t make a sound,_

_Brother is sleepin’_

_Underneath the ground._

But ahead of him the mist cleared. He heard an animal squawking. The rain began to let up. A dragonfly buzzed past. 

_“Baekhyun I’m comin’_

_I’m out here on my own,_

_Baekhyun I’m comin’_

_Just wait a little more._

_“Junmyeon I’m comin’_

_I’m out here on my own,_

_Junmyeon I’m comin’_

_Just wait a little more._

_Sehun I’m comin’_

_I’m out here on my own,_

_Sehun I’m comin’_

_Just wait a little more.”_

And in the distance, he heard it. The howl of a Mountain Spirit. 

  
  


**END OF ACT III: GOOD MEN**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE DID IT FAM! WE MADE IT THROUGH THIS SUPER TRIPPY PART OF THE STORY I HOPE YOU WERE AT LEAST MODERATELY ENTERTAINED! Did I just pull an all nighter busting out this chapter because I couldn't control myself? Absolutely. The sun is rising outside my window, the birds are chirping, but it was worth it!
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	14. ACT IV: LOST BOYS - CHAPTER I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

To know something terrible has happened is one thing. To face it is another.

Jongin came to understand death with the help of Master soon after the thaw of his sixth winter. Over the course of a few days he had discovered two injured birds out on the grounds and hurriedly brought them to Master thinking they were sick and that Master’s medicinal tea would make them better.

Master helped him build a small home for them in his shed and showed him how to take care of them. But no matter how well Jongin took care of them, the birds did not seem to be getting better. One’s wing remained bent and the other had parts of its beak and leg missing. Jongin insisted that he did not mind taking care of the birds forever. Master did not seem as enthusiastic. 

Jongin was determined to raise the birds just as Master raised him. He would repeat the stories he had been told to the birds each night when he should have been asleep, he would play with the birds when he should have been working, and he would bring the birds inside the inn for supper. Master grew angry but even when he punished Jongin for all of his actions, he did not correct his behavior.

So one day, Master took Jongin in one hand and his birdcage in the other. He made Jongin watch as he dropped the birdcage into a campfire, made him listen as their chirping ceased. It was meant as a lesson to never disobey him so consciously again. It also forced Jongin to see death. 

But Master’s anger waned quickly and that night he read a story about a beautiful burial of a young princess and suggested Jongin should do the same thing for his birds. It took many days for Jongin to have the courage to go back to the fire pit, to see what had become of his small family. Eventually he did. It was a solemn, solitary affair near the creek in a hollowed out bush where Jongin had often played but would not anymore. Afterwards, Master taught him of spirits and of Heaven.

Now Jongin’s steps faltered under the night sky as he waded through the water, one of the rolled up legs of his pants finally unraveling fully to fall beneath the surface. What once had been large pools shaping natural grassy pathways had now become like a vast but shallow lake with the tips of grass just managing to peek above the surface. The horse behind him was becoming disgruntled as Jongin sought the best path ahead with the soles of his feet. 

The fatigue he had woken up with only became worse and the humidity of the marshlands that day added nausea to his bouts of lightheadedness. Even as the sun fell and the marshlands remembered nothing but this starry canopy, Jongin kept walking in the direction of the wolf’s howl yet no wolf had appeared before him. Sehun was nowhere in sight. 

The wolf’s cry had made Jongin fill with anticipation, a reassurance that he should not feel lonely. But perhaps that cry had been one of sadness. Perhaps Sehun knew something terrible had happened as he watched a stranger emerge from a nightmare of mist clad in black fabrics leading a dark horse carrying the deceased. 

There must be a reason Sehun would have waited so close to the camp for however long Taemin had been there. He must have had an idea of who he was taken by for him to have followed all this way. He must have wanted to save Taemin himself but could not for some reason. Whole villages did not simply disappear without notice, did they? Something must have been protecting Brother. Heechul would never leave him somewhere alone that was easily accessible to any random traveler.

What if Sehun knew that Taemin would die there? What if he had gotten close enough to see the countless bodies in the water? What if he simply did not want to face what he knew to be true? What if he blamed himself for all he believed to have transpired? 

What was Taemin to Sehun? 

How long would it take for him to face all that had happened?

By the time Jongin dared to look back the way he had come, the abandoned campsite had either disappeared with distance or with the unraveling of its curse. He knew this large marsh had an end boundary, the telltale rise of land just barely visible much further in the distance. He could just make it out in the last of the sun’s rays which encouraged him to keep walking steady in the night. Now it must be only a few hours more until sunrise. 

But the marshlands came alive at night in ways he hadn’t expected. The nature around him made a wall of sound, lives untouched by humanity playing out in this place God had created for them. The horse had already been startled by large frogs and after removing his tunic to shield himself from the sun earlier in the day, mosquitos unfortunately had their feast. Now he felt creatures swimming and crawling past his exposed legs and feet but none had harmed him. It was a surreal environment.

Still, in his fight to keep his eyes open and stay alert, these sounds became more haunting. This was freedom. He would not exchange where he was now with anywhere he had been in the past but all the same it was overwhelming. The stark difference between the flatness of the marsh and his home in the mountains unsettled him. The creatures here were plentiful and beautiful yet none were familiar. He no longer had the energy to sing and if he were to collapse now he would drown. 

_“_ _Look in the direction you would choose to go with your freedom,”_ Heechul’s voice echoed in his memory, _“and I can list a dozen things that would end you in days.”_

Jongin bent down to splash some of the marsh water in his face, hands bracing on his knees as the world around him once again went in and out of focus. The horse nudged the back of his head when he fell to his knees to take deep breaths, now not caring at all that it made his clothes and satchel wet. But just like the countless times he had been beaten and starved all these years, he got back up again looking up at the moon and taking his next step forward.

Three hours later, the sounds of the night had quieted quite a bit and the sound of birds preparing to face the morning made it to his ears. The water of the mash had been steadily receding, his grassy pathway to higher ground becoming clear. Now he stood where the tallgrass was beginning to give way to small bushes and curving trees. The horse made a delighted sound stepping on what eventually became solid ground.

It was at that moment Jongin cried out in shock and pain. Looking down, a snake of red, yellow, and black quickly slithered away. Squatting down to inspect the wound, Jongin gripped his calf as the minutes went by. When he did not begin to feel ill he breathed a sigh of cautious relief. 

He walked a bit further until he deemed the space around him sturdy enough and far enough away from the edge of the marsh to set up camp for the day. But with the sun now bathing the sky in a beautiful, awakening blue, Jongin did no more than tie the horse’s lead to a tree, unfurl his damp blanket, and fall fast asleep.

The overwhelming power of a strong scent in the air is what woke him, one that radiated immense anger and despair. Even while still curled up in his ball of rest, Jongin distantly noted the lack of control he had of the leg where the snake had sunk its fangs. His throat felt dry and his head was starting to ache, but he still opened his eyes, the intensity of the scent demanding his attention. He distantly recalled when he had felt something similar, back when Baekhyun had fetched him in his alleyway while Palos went up in flames around them. But this was far more potent. 

He found himself whimpering at the sight of a boy, perhaps a young man, completely bare with wild and unruly black hair that only just touched his shoulder blades, crouched with his back to him over Taemin’s body. The burlap had been undone revealing his eyeless face, his severed arm, and the fatal wound the wide blade had left in his chest. His skin while pale in life, was now much more so in death. 

When the unknown wolf turned around, Jongin was first struck by his glowing red eyes. It was exactly as the stories had told of the Wild Beasts who once ravaged the lands. Then was the skin of his face and torso, wet with perspiration and the smell of the marsh, dirty with earth as though he had lived in it. Behind the power of his scent evoked the smell of a stream in springtime, water lightly flowing lightly over ancient rocks and fresh moss. But it did not stop Jongin’s insides from twisting in fear and distress the stronger Sehun’s anger became as his eyes bored straight through him still curled against the ground.

“Was it you?” Sehun asked. His voice was deep and gravelly, almost as if coming from an animal. “Did you do this to him?”

“No.”

Something in Jongin’s own voice seemed to catch the attention of the alpha, his eyes leaving his own to survey the rest of his covered body.

“How did you get out of the mist?”

When Jongin first tried to answer, he choked a bit as if his own throat was working against him but Sehun stayed where he was, watching him.

“What… w-what once lived there… is gone.”

“How?” the alpha asked and Jongin did not know how to answer. He had already given the simplest answer he could form with his muddled mind. His headache was rapidly growing worse and his muscles felt too weak to reach for any of Brother’s remedies. Was it because of this wolf? His sickness? The venom of the snake? At his continued silence the red of the wolf’s eyes intensified as he began to stalk towards him still crouched low to the ground. “Speak! Give me one reason not to kill you.”

“Sehun… I-”

And that seemed to make the alpha snap, his rough hands yanking him from his wool cocoon by the long strands of his hair. Before his eyes, Jongin saw the once small fangs in his mouth grow longer. 

“HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME? YOU SPOKE TO HIM! YOU WERE THERE!” 

All at once this young wolf’s influence over him felt like a cage as the telltale burn of tears overtook his eyes as his violent scent washed over him. Is this what it was to have a mate? Was this the type of good alpha Brother had spoken of? If so, Jongin could not bear it. If so, then this world was truly a cruel one.

“There’s more than one way to be an alpha!” he cried. “That’s… that’s what Taemin told me to tell you.”

As if burned, the alpha let go of him, his heated rage slowly cooled by what must have been a new wave of grief. Jongin remained conscious long enough to see Sehun carry Taemin’s body away until they disappeared beyond the green. Like this, Jongin’s kindred left him. 

***

Jongin could tell that he was drenched in sweat despite feeling abnormally cold. He tried to move his legs but couldn’t. Tried to move his arms but what little he could manage was met with pinpricks of pain. The reason for him waking was his struggle to breathe. He could feel solid rock beneath his body but his vision was so blurred that all around him was beyond recognition as he wheezed. In his fight gasping for breath, he felt hands on his body, rearranging him to lay on his back, his feet lifted, his chin tilted upwards. Hands pressed hard and rhythmically against his chest for a while until his body began convulsing. He was turned to his side again just in time for vomit to spew from his mouth. He groaned in pain.

“The venom is running its course,” a voice said directly into his ear. “It shouldn’t kill you.” 

The hands of the alpha left him after the wool of his blanket was tucked back around him. It was the distant sound of rain and the presence of that scent that lulled him back to sleep.

The cause for his next waking was a booming roll of thunder. He could move his limbs now even if every muscle in his body felt stiff. He could tell the calf where he was bitten was badly swollen. His head still hurt and his gut still twisted but his vision was clear, the wall of a firelit cave coming into focus. It was the raging storm outside that made him realize how thirsty he was.

He rolled over to face the mouth of the cave. It seemed to be a relatively shallow enclosure, the entrance of it situated less than two body lengths away where the last embers of a small fire burned. Everything that had been strapped to the horse had been unloaded and neatly stacked inside. When the cave lit up with a flash of lightning, he wondered where Sehun had gone in conditions as bad as this.

His question was answered when a large, dark gray wolf emerged from the curtain of rainfall. It shook its body in an attempt to dry itself off then before his eyes morphed into Sehun. It was like his old wooden carving had come to life, the transformation hauntingly reminding him of magic though in this case, something deep inside of him kept him from being afraid of the beast. Instead he found Sehun’s wolf form beautiful.

Just like before, Sehun sat in a crouch as he revived the fire. When he did eventually look over at Jongin, his eyes were a different kind of red, the type of red one’s eyes became after crying for a long time. He wondered how old Sehun was. Before he seemed as if he could be as old as Baekhyun but if he was close to Taemin, perhaps he was younger. 

“You should drink,” he said quietly, gesturing to a small canteen within Jongin’s reach. He recognized it as one Brother had given him. Jongin reached for it, not liking how weak he still felt in his effort to open it. His throat burned as he drank and he had some difficulty swallowing. 

“Thank you for helping me.” 

Sehun only nodded in response. There were many questions to ask and many things to say but Jongin was familiar enough with grief that he knew right now was not the time for words. All that mattered was that Sehun came back to him in this strange place and between the snake bite and the storm had likely saved his life when only that morning he had threatened to end it. But that was anger. Jongin knew anger too.

It seemed as though he had only closed his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them again it was daylight out and the storm had passed. Unlike the previous day he was no longer getting chills. A quick look at his leg showed the swelling had gone down considerably even if his skin was still very red. He tossed his blanket aside and crawled to the entrance of the cave to observe his surroundings.

Sun glistened off of wet leaves, the unfamiliar types of trees arching and twirling in strange ways. He could smell the scent he associated with Sehun and decided to follow it. At first unstable on his feet, Jongin grabbed a long enough fallen branch to steady himself as he walked around the slippery terrain. It still hurt a bit to put full weight on his injured leg. The ground sloped somewhat rapidly, the cave situated at the bottom of an even larger and more severe drop where trees and other plants somehow still managed to grow.

Eventually he spotted Sehun by a creek, sitting next to the horse as it drank from it. It seemed that even in such a strong storm, Sehun had taken time to care for this creature as well. Noticing the alpha was still bare, Jongin removed his tunic and made his way down. 

“Here,” Jongin said once he sat down next to him an arm’s length away. “You can wear this if you want.” Somewhat to his surprise, Sehun accepted his offering, the black fabric looking nice against his lighter skin. 

“An omega shouldn’t be wandering,” Sehun responded. Jongin frowned.

“Says who?”

“Omegas aren’t supposed to question alphas either.”

“Or else what?” 

“I guess a slave wouldn’t understand,” Sehun said further in his quiet but sharp voice. “I saw the brand on your back. I guess they got you young. That explains why you’d go wandering through a marsh in the middle of the night. You’re lucky a snake and some critters are all that got to you.”

Despite the crass nature of his words, Jongin noticed how Sehun kept his focus on the creek just like the night before he had kept his focus on the fire and the falling rain beyond. And now while Jongin thought he would feel affronted, he liked the way Sehun’s scent was now mingling with his own.

“It doesn’t matter what I was. I am and always have been a person. You can call me Jongin, the omega who wanders wherever he pleases.” To his amusement, instead of responding Sehun started twiddling with a twig he picked up from the ground. “Why won’t you look at me?”

To prove a point, Sehun chose that moment to look Jongin dead on. It should have been funny but between the beauty of Sehun’s eyes absent their terrifying red glow out here in the daytime and the conflict he could see within them, it was Jongin who was at a loss of words to say.

“I’m confused. I don’t know what to make of you or what to do with you,” Sehun said. “You come to me with the same horse that took Taemin away… yet you don’t seem like a killer and you spoke the words he so often spoke to me.” Sehun seemed like he was about to say more but looked away again, tossing the twig into the creek.

“You’re the first alpha I’ve ever met so I’m sorry if I don’t understand your customs but I've just about had enough of followin’ rules that don’t make a grain of sense. I was told we might make good companions. If that’s not what you want then I understand. All I ask is that you allow me to follow you back to your pack so I might find a healer.”

“Are you looking to become an apprentice?” Sehun asked.

“What does ‘apprentice’ mean? I’ve never heard that word.”

“It’s like a…” Sehun paused, “a student, a learner. You carry lots of herbs but since you couldn’t handle your own snake bite I assumed you must not know much about how to use it all.” Jongin nodded in understanding.

“No. I’ve got a sickness… a consequence of a life raised by humans. Without a healer who has a good knowledge of wolves… it will send me to Heaven.”

“What does ‘heaven’ mean?”

“You don’t know Heaven?”

“ _You_ don’t know ‘apprentice’?” Jongin felt himself blushing.

“It’s where you go when you die. It’s the paradise up above where God lives.”

Jongin blushed more when Sehun turned to look at him like he’d turned into a fish before all the emotions drained from his features.

“You’re dying?”

“Sure am!” Jongin said with a smile, sensing Sehun’s change in mood as he scoffed. “But a lot has tried to kill me without much success.” 

“Anyone ever tell you how strange you are?” 

“No. But I figure on account of bein’ a wolf, you’re just as strange as me.” He was hoping his tone would make Sehun laugh but instead the alpha looked back out upon the creek.

“I haven’t seen another wolf in three years,” he said. “My pack was wiped out by Blood Riders, healers and all. Though they took all the omegas.” Sehun picked up another twig, bending it between his fingers.

While Jongin had never heard the term _Blood Rider_ before, it was easy enough to make the connection. In Master’s stories, the Royal Hunters used to wear red cloaks. Perhaps the ones who came to Sehun’s home still did. Even if they didn’t, the name made sense if they consistently left nothing in their wake.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be. They weren’t exactly good people.” 

***

Sehun had taken it upon himself to go hunting, reluctant to eat any of the food Jongin had brought with him. When he came back to the cave, shifting once back inside, Jongin was alarmed to see blood all over his mouth. It was remarkable to see how Sehun could shift so easily. Even without his silver bindings, Jongin had no idea it was even possible to shift if it wasn’t the night of a full moon. Sehun assured him none of the blood was his own even though Jongin hadn’t asked. It seemed there would possibly be many customs common amongst wolves that Jongin was not familiar with, much more than the packs and mates Brother had told him about.

“I came up with an idea while you were out,” Jongin said while Sehun slipped his tunic back on. “I know that there is a large gatherin’ of wolves happenin’ in a place called the Forest of Casia. If I head in that direction, I might come across others. Where I was held as a slave probably isn’t too far from here. The whole town was burned down. I imagine many omegas escaped.” 

To Jongin’s slight disgust, Sehun wiped the blood off his mouth with the fabric of the tunic.

“Well that’s pretty far away… but my old village is sort of in that direction.” Sehun grabbed some of the small jars and pouches from Jongin’s belongings and shuffled towards him.

“Say we’re here,” he said, putting down a jar near Jongin’s knee. “With a horse it would take almost five days to get to my village over here.” He took another jar and placed it a distance diagonally from the first. “All this over there and up here is that marsh you were in and the Dead Woods. If you chose to cut through that way, your illness would be the least of your concerns. But if we head to my village first, you can bypass it and head up into the Blue Mountains. The valley is home to a lot of human settlements so while it might be easier to cut through there, the odds of running into trouble are high. But if you follow the mountain range for another month, beyond it is where I know the Forest of Casia to be,” he finished, tossing a pouch a rather large distance away. “So you’d have all that distance to potentially run into someone who can help you. Would be a lot more difficult not on horseback.”

Jongin hummed in response, connecting the Dead Woods to the forest Heechul had taken him through and the valley where Palos and probably many other human towns were. And the Blue Mountains? That was probably where he’d grown up. It was impossible to know the full outcome of what had happened after the fire. Despite Baekhyun’s confidence, he had no way of knowing if his friend had made it out safely but he had nothing else to go on, no other ideas. 

“Oh,” Jongin realized. “I don’t know how to ride a horse.” Sehun leveled him with a look Jongin was quickly becoming used to. "Do you?"

“No. An alpha has no need for horses. Well then, make that _ten_ days to my village and _two months_ to the Forest of Casia because let me guess, you don’t know how to shift either.” Jongin shook his head.

“You could teach me?”

“Oh I’ll do a lot more than teach you. I’ll come with you the whole way just to make sure you don’t get eaten by something. Between here and there are snakes as long as you are tall!” It was easy to pick up on Sehun’s nervous habit of always grabbing whatever the closest thing was to pinch and pull at with his fingers. Now he chose the hem of his tunic. “I said goodbye to Taemin yesterday. Now I’m alone. I raced after him once I realized he’d been taken, ripping the clothes off my back when I shifted. Came all the way out here with nothing but myself. Without you bringing me his body, I probably would’ve wasted away out here… waiting. He might’ve been a human, but he was family to me. He was all I had left.” 

Sehun moved to gather the things he’d used to explain the vast stretches of land Jongin had seen but never quite understood as clearly. Jongin then hesitantly joined him at the mouth of the cave looking out onto the forest. Jongin turned when for the first time Sehun used his name to address him.

“I’m ready for you to tell me what happened. I’m ready for you to tell me what Taemin’s final days were like and how it is you came to me.”

So for the first time since with his injured birds, Jongin prepared himself to tell a story, one Master had never told. It was the story of the lost souls of the marshlands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	15. ACT IV: LOST BOYS - CHAPTER II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

The funny thing about stories is that they naturally change over time. That’s what Brother told him, anyway. The boy had never actually met another wolf before Jongin, but he learned about them through the stories of those he’d lived within. Even then, most of those villagers hadn’t ever seen a wolf either. Many had lost someone in the war and that had a tendency to color their feelings about the creatures. But some, like Brother, had a certain curiosity about them. 

Some villagers had met someone who’d seen a wolf or they heard stories from someone who’d read a book about someone who’d met a wolf, stories whispered between children and wanderer’s at heart under candlelight. So what Brother told him of mates were just that, stories of unknown origin about a bond so powerful it could reach over stretches of land and war and bloodshed, a bond thought to be steeped in a natural magic that was neither dark nor light. Some bonds, those of the fated, were told to last even in death as their bodies became one with the soil. 

Jongin thought of these stories as he watched from beneath the cover of his blanket, Sehun leaving the cave to be with himself simmering with something Jongin wasn’t sure what to call. Conflict? Longing? Fear? Sadness? Perhaps a mixture of all that. Yet by the time Sehun roused him in the dissipating darkness of the morning, the horse had been loaded with most of their supplies and Sehun gestured for him to show the site of his injury.

It was still red, still puffy, and above all every muscle in his body was sore as if encased in thick mud or stone. Sehun handed him one of Brother’s ointments and watched as Jongin spread it over the area as instructed. Then, a bit roughly, Sehun tied a strip of cloth he’d cut from his tunic to tie around the punctures. 

“You’re not healing as quickly as a wolf should. This might help it along,” Sehun said in a soft voice that Jongin was beginning to view as his natural one, the way he spoke when he wasn’t trying to prove or be something. 

But what he said was true and if Sehun hadn’t mentioned it, Jongin probably would’ve never noticed. Cuts, scrapes, and broken bones used to heal more quickly when he was very young than they did in recent years. If not, full moons might’ve killed him as a baby. But he wasn’t aware wolves had any unique healing abilities. He thought this is simply what happened with age or years of malnourishment. 

He looked over at Sehun when his scent suddenly grew stronger but all the alpha was doing was kneeling by him taking breaths that were perhaps a little bit deeper than what was natural. Their eyes met briefly but as usual, Sehun quickly turned away.

“We should go. We have a lot of ground to cover.”

A spring stream, moss, sunlight, and now a hint of mint, all things that calmed Jongin radiated from Sehun’s being as they moved quickly through the trees. The alpha’s scent was not as shocking as the day before but Jongin wasn’t sure what to make of how he was drawn this way to him. He did not know if this allure was dangerous or simply the surface of the storied bonds of mates. Or maybe all alphas were this way and, like Heechul said, some used it to control omegas. But not Sehun. Hopefully not Sehun.

The alpha had him get atop the horse as they ended up needing to wade through a swamp. As they did so, Sehun’s eyes glowed a dull red and he turned his head slowly as if listening for predators. To get through the swamp, Sehun took a long and winding, complicated path but he was far more deft at it than Jongin had been navigating through the much more tame marsh by comparison. 

“In stories I have been told of swamps,” Jongin said once they were clear of it, breaking the hours of silence, “but there was no old lady in a hut who wanted to eat us.” Sehun did not respond and Jongin suddenly felt a little embarrassed. It had taken them so long to get through the swamp with its watery canals and arching trees. Now it was already past noon. “Would you like to rest?” he asked, knowing that getting through the swamp had been no small physical undertaking. 

“No. We’re too close to a human village.” Jongin’s grip tightened on the horse’s saddle. Sehun realized what he had done and changed his tone. “There is no need to fear. Stay on the horse. We’ll clear their hunting grounds in no time.”

The afternoon continued to crawl by in silence, the motion of the horse contributing to Jongin’s overall recurring dizziness. Sehun trudged on ahead, the lead gripped tightly in his hand. By the time the sun began to set it was clear how unsteady on his legs he was, his dark circles and bloodshot eyes prominent.

“Sehun,” Jongin said gently, “we should rest. You’re tired.”

“We can’t stop. We need to cover as much ground as possible.”

“Then you ride. I’ll lead.”

“You don’t know where you’re going.”

“Then direct me. I’m perfectly capable of walkin’ a straight path.” Jongin was expecting Sehun to fight more but his companion came to a stop. He dismounted and handed Sehun a canteen. “How much sleep did you get last night?”

“Enough. Let’s keep going.”

Sehun instructed him to keep traveling west. Even once night fell, Sehun told him to keep walking. Jongin listened because these lands were unfamiliar to him. But as the night grew deeper, Jongin turned to see Sehun barely keeping his eyes open as he sat hunched on the saddle. Sighing, Jongin tied the horse to a tree once he found a suitable place to make camp, ignoring Sehun’s protests. 

“It won’t do us any good to continue tonight. I don’t know where I’m goin’ and we’re both tired. It’s not safe to travel like this.” Jongin steadied Sehun as he got off the horse and gently guided him to sit leaning against a wide tree.

“In an hour we will continue,” Sehun said but by the time Jongin had quickly gathered some wood for a fire, the alpha was fast asleep.

“So stubborn,” Jongin muttered to himself as he draped his blanket over the alpha.

Despite it being so late into the night, the woods around them seemed peaceful. Jongin settled down by the small fire, pleased with how evenly it burned. He chewed on some of the dried berries Brother had given him. Across the flame, he watched Sehun as he slept. It is said that people often look younger in their sleep, their burdens gone for a moment as they traveled through the stars. Sehun was no exception. 

Jongin closed the jar of berries and left it next to the alpha, ignoring the sudden desire that bloomed in his chest to rest by his side just like many omegas had done in Palos. He blushed, the thought making him flustered, and returned to his own side of the fire. Sehun obviously liked to keep his distance. Jongin would do the same.

Counter to what Sehun claimed, when Jongin opened his eyes more than an hour had passed. Once again, it was first light. The fire had predictably died and his blanket was now back to being wrapped around his own shoulders. He was feeling less sore today from snake venom and instead felt the far more familiar soreness that came from being on his feet for hours on end. 

He looked around for Sehun and after a moment closed his eyes. Brother had said that wolves use their strong sense of smell to hunt. Jongin had never hunted before but he imagined he was as he followed the scent he knew to be uniquely Sehun, frowning the further away he traveled from their simple camp. And that’s when he heard Sehun crying. 

Picking up his pace, Jongin found him in a small break in the forest canopy where not much earlier he would’ve had a clear view of the moon and stars. Before Jongin could step into the clearing, Sehun quickly rubbed at his eyes and stood up. 

“Jongin. Did you sleep well?” Sehun asked and Jongin wondered if the alpha thought he was being convincing.

“I did. Did you?”

“I woke early and it seemed as if you were having a nightmare.” Despite everything, Sehun did seem genuinely concerned albeit in a very conservative way. 

“If I had one, I don’t remember it.” Jongin walked up to him but like yesterday, Sehun decided to set his gaze elsewhere. “I’m curious. Is it everyone you don’t look in the eye or is it just me?” Unlike yesterday, Sehun didn’t change the direction of his gaze once it was pointed out.

The longer they stood like this, Jongin could feel something within himself gradually becoming what he could only describe as distressed. He had spent so many hours looking at Sehun, this distance between them, without looking into the other boy’s eyes. The clearest and most direct memory he had of them was when they had glowed red, when Sehun’s heart and mind were in turmoil. 

So maybe that is why Jongin still couldn’t help but wonder if Sehun thought poorly of him, if he was maybe regretting what he had promised him. He thought to the way things were by himself in the marsh, hauntingly alone even in the company of nature. It was freeing, liberating because of what he had been leaving behind him, but he did not want it to happen again. Jongin knew deep in his bones how much more likely death would be without Sehun. 

He felt a bit calmer when a soft breeze disturbed the air around them, adding a sharper edge to Sehun’s scent. Suddenly, his previous thoughts seemed foolish even with the same mixture of feelings wafted off of the alpha.

“I don’t know how to say what I want to say,” Sehun said. But he didn’t have to say anything specifically. Jongin could feel it, visualize it like a branch just out of reach, imagine how the texture of the bark would feel beneath his hand even if he’d never touched it.

“You’re afraid of what’s ahead of you. Everythin’ you knew is gone and you know it’s not comin’ back,” he whispered. Sehun’s jaw twitched and he rubbed at his eyes again. 

“I’m still just a pup. I’m fifteen and should’ve matured fully by now. What if something in me broke when my pack was killed? What if I’ll never be a real alpha? Taemin gave so much of himself to me. My pack treated him worse than dirt his whole life because of what he was. But even when my pack was gone, I couldn’t protect him, couldn’t make him want this life. Now there’s you. Of all the omegas in the _world_ … I’m now faced with failing you, with hurting you.” Sehun looked up at the brightening sky and breathed. “There’s so much I didn’t learn. I’m not ready. You shouldn’t be trusting in me.” 

Jongin didn’t understand the meaning of all Sehun said. He knew nothing of what the maturing of wolves was or if he’d reached it yet himself. But now he knew Sehun was younger than him by one year, that he must have been twelve when he’d lost his family. Jongin now knew that like he had been raised by a human, Taemin had been raised by wolves. It all made his heart hurt more, like Sehun’s sadness traveled through the air and seeped into him.

“You cared for me in the cave. You came up with a plan to find a healer. You found a way through that swamp and the human huntin’ grounds. You pushed as much as you could before restin’. And before all that, you stood watch for your friend all on your own in a place unfamiliar. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re ready or not. This is happenin’. You are kind and gentle. I can tell. Hurtin’ me is a choice. Many have chosen to hurt me. But I don’t think you will.”

Not knowing if it was ok or not, Jongin reached for Sehun’s hand slowly. Like his own, Sehun’s skin there was rough. Even if their lives up to this point had been different, they had both lost people and had both been impacted by the war their kind lost probably before they were even born.

“You are my mate, Jongin. I am as sure of it as I am sure of the moon in the sky. You must know. Even though we are both pups and it isn’t as overpowering… you must know too.” Sehun looked at him then with his soft, brown eyes but even though Jongin nodded in affirmation, a feeling of glee and understanding flitting through him, Sehun separated their hands. “I’m scared it’s in my nature as an alpha to cause you pain, that I’ll be like all the other alphas in my pack. So if I do… if it becomes like that, promise me you’ll fight back and run from me.” 

“I don’t believe-”

“Please. _Please_ promise. I need you to.”

Jongin might not know all of Sehun’s story but from the way his voice cracked now, he could almost hear its sad song. There was more than one way to be an alpha but Sehun still didn’t believe it, still didn’t believe he could walk outside of his own fence. 

“I promise.” 

Those words were all it took for his mate to smile at him for the first time.

***

“The most important thing to remember about controlling your wolf is knowing that it’s an extension of yourself. It’s your natural state. We’re all born in our wolf forms.” 

It was their seventh day of travel and Jongin was feeling a bit better. The snake bite had healed but the toll of going such distances each day left him perpetually drained, even after a night’s sleep. But with Sehun’s guidance, they had made good progress. He learned it was the alpha’s goal not only to get back to more familiar territory, but to be at his village with enough time before the full moon to get them safe and situated. That was now only three nights away but they would arrive by the end of tomorrow.

Now Sehun was actually alright with setting up camp while they still had a couple more hours of sunlight leaving Jongin with enough time and energy to finally make some porridge. Meanwhile, Sehun was eager to begin teaching him more thoroughly about shifting.

“Transformation comes the most effortlessly on nights of the full moon but for young pups who still don’t have good control, they can’t help but to shift. Older wolves can shift at will no matter where we are in the moon cycle. After you shift during the next full moon, I think you’ll more naturally be able to at least _sense_ your wolf’s presence.”

“So before when I still had my cuffs, because I never learned to control my shift, durin’ each full moon my body would decide to shift anyway? But because of the silver, my body wasn’t able to do what it wanted… which was the cause of all the pain.”

“Yes. There’s nothing bad or unnatural about shifting. Unless you are already injured, shifting shouldn’t hurt at all. Most find it disorienting at worst… What are you doing to the porridge?”

Jongin grinned at Sehun’s reaction to him opening his most favorite jar Brother had prepared.

“It’s called cinnamon,” he said, sprinkling some of it in. “It will change your life.” He gave Sehun his bowl and waited eagerly.

“Glorious moon…”

“Told you so.” And then Jongin got a view of what he must’ve looked like to Brother as Sehun practically inhaled the rest.

“That’s it,” Sehun said. “That’s the name.” Sehun stood up and walked over to the horse that was nipping away at a bush. Jongin laughed in amusement. Naming their patient black horse had been a topic of lighthearted debate over the past days. “As the only and by default head alpha of this pack, I name thee… Cinnamon.”

The closer they got to Sehun’s village, the more Sehun seemed to relax. In late afternoon on the eighth day, Sehun didn’t seem annoyed in the slightest when they came upon a vast field of flowers much to Jongin’s awe.

“This was the edge of my pack’s territory. It’s still safe. We can spend the rest of the day here and then go into the village closer to dusk… if you’d like.”

Jongin beamed at him before running off into the field. He had never seen so many kinds of flowers in his life. The grass here was also so soft that it wasn’t long until he decided to plop down and bask in the sun. It had been years since Sehun’s pack had patrolled these grounds, but the alpha’s sudden ease put Jongin at ease in kind.

_“Yellow flower what’s your name?_

_Tell me your story!_

_Light blue flower what’s your name?_

_Show me your glory!_

_Pink-ish flower what’s your name?_

_Let’s see how you grow!_

_Purple flower what’s your name?_

_Tell me… tell me…”_

“It’s a violet.”

Jongin yelped in surprise when Sehun stood bending over him, facial expression completely neutral. He released the flower he’d been caressing with his palm and sighed.

“Not knowin’ makes the imagination stronger.”

“It’s not a very spectacular flower. Doesn’t smell like much.”

“Just for sayin’ that, this is now the most special flower to me.”

Jongin sat up as Sehun took his place on the ground beside him. Like this, the grass and flowers reached up to their elbows. 

“May I braid your hair?” Sehun asked out of the blue, twisting a piece of grass as he did so. When Jongin nodded, Sehun quickly moved to sit behind him. Still, a long moment passed, Sehun’s close yet out of sight presence making Jongin’s heart rate rise oddly in anticipation. “Tell me if I hurt you.” 

And with that, Jongin closed his eyes at the first touch of Sehun’s fingers against his strands, combing from his forehead back along his scalp, wiggling gently at any resistance they encountered. Jongin had seen braids before. The word itself was one Master had taught him. Sehun’s touch made him calm, almost sleepy like being soothed by warm water.

“Omegas in my pack always wore their hair in two braids. Alphas would always wear them in one. Betas would be tied tight above their heads.” 

Sehun’s hand brushed his right shoulder when he moved to have the first braid drape over Jongin’s front. He touched it and although he could not see himself fully, he thought it was pretty and closed his eyes again as Sehun began working on the other side talking about how he often used to do this for his mother even though it was considered demeaning for alphas to do so. It only occurred to Jongin then that a person as gentle as Sehun, even when Sehun tried his hardest not to be, probably didn’t fit in well with other young alphas. If so, it would make sense that Taemin would be willing to open himself up to him.

“Your scent is like chestnuts. Chestnuts and honey,” Sehun said as he finished the second braid, hands landing lightly on Jongin’s shoulders before trailing down any number of scars on his back. 

“Is that good?” 

“I don’t know.” Jongin let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when Sehun’s hands left his damaged skin.

“Yours is like moss… water flowing over the rocks of a small stream on a sunny day… and mint.”

“Is _that_ good?” 

“Maybe,” Jongin said, not fighting the blush he knew was probably spreading on his face. He didn’t know why he was reacting like this. When he turned around to face Sehun, he felt less alone seeing the alpha’s face had turned a similar rosy hue. “How does it look?”

At first Sehun looked upon him with fondness but then slowly his face turned ashen.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sehun?” The alpha reached to start undoing one of the braids but Jongin stilled him by the wrist.

“I’m… I’m ashamed. I shouldn’t continue the traditions of my pack.”

“There’s nothing wrong with braiding hair.”

“It has meaning!” Jongin jumped at Sehun’s raised voice, his wrist falling from his grasp. Sehun bit his tongue and continued more quietly. “Like the brand on your back and the ink on your arm, it has meaning.”

“If that’s what you truly feel, I’ll undo it myself. But it’s ok to love the good things. The beautiful things. You can make it your own. A reminder of your family.” Sehun shook his head but Jongin pressed on.

“Han Jin Woo. That was my master’s name, the one who raised me. But I never called him by that name. I called him Master and he called me Wolf because I thought those were names just like any other. Just like Sehun is yours, Wolf was mine. My whole life I was a slave but for those first eleven years I didn’t know it. Sometimes I wonder, should I be ashamed to say I was happy?

“Master protected me, cared for me, and was probably very fond of me. But he didn’t love me. If he loved me, would he have lied about so much? Kept me chained in silver that was killin’ me? He was… what you call a Blood Rider durin’ the war. He hunted our kind. Did I have a pack? Did he murder them? I’ll never know. I think… he had regrets. Maybe he pitied himself and I freed him from his guilt.

“Yet even now when I think of him… my heart hurts. I remember so vividly the day he died. I had never known such terror but after that day, terror is all I would know for a long time. The world he’d made for me would fall apart and I would realize I was a fool. I could say I didn’t have a way of knowin’ any better. Yeah, I could say that. But why even now do I still love him when all the times I dared to call him Papa, he never called me Son? You understand? You understand that, Sehun?” The alpha’s jaw was clenched as tight as his fists but he nodded anyway. Jongin continued. 

“We can’t change where we came from or the way we were raised. That’s all in the past. But we can learn, we can question things. We can choose to be brave, choose to be better, choose to see what’s really been goin’ on in the slices of the world we’ve seen and heard stories about. The only freedom I’ve ever known has been with you and Cinnamon. It’s like I’m a newborn. Every single thing we do together is a new thing, a new memory, part of our future and our own story. If you think these braids are beautiful then I think these braids are beautiful. I’ll wear them proudly and think of these violets… and how we both sat here cryin’ in front of each other without tryin’ to hide our faces.”

Sehun laughed once causing the tears building up in his eyes finally fell. Jongin shuffled closer to him just like he’d always wanted to so much these past days and hugged him tight to his chest. Jongin didn’t realize how much he’d been holding himself back either. Three weeks ago he was a slave waiting to die. Two weeks ago he was a prisoner fighting to live. Now, he was like this, feeling so close to a boy whose soul matched his own.

***

Sehun had made a tiny corner of his old village his home while the rest remained mostly in ruins. The blood from the massacre had been washed away but scorch marks still remained. The Royal Hunters, Blood Riders, always traveled at minimum in pairs: a human soldier and a sorcerer. Their pack had been a nomadic one for years trying to stay out of reach of the war, only settling down in this place when Sehun was nine when wolf packs were so scarce Sehun never thought he’d see another one in his life. He still hadn’t. 

When Sehun learned that his father intended to kill Taemin, he came up with a plan for his friend to escape from their pack’s territory to find a human village. It was just before crossing the territorial boundary at the meadow when Sehun sensed what was happening, felt lives being ripped from the pack bond one by one. By the time he returned, it was too late. In the end, Taemin decided to stay with him.

Sehun’s hut was situated between two chestnut trees, the inside filled with furs, knives, and small carvings on animals and objects. Jongin had admired them. They were not as intricate as the ones he’d had growing up, but the roundness and simplicity of the faces gave them a touch that was uniquely Sehun. Another hut was used for storage. It held firewood, fabrics, clothing, and an array of herbs. The last hut was where Taemin slept for no matter how close he became to Sehun, Taemin always preferred to sleep alone. It was simple and almost bare save for the furs he slept beneath and dried flowers from the meadow. 

This was where Sehun offered him to sleep for the night but after a late supper and in the peaceful dark of the camp, they found themselves both curled together in Sehun’s hut feeling the safest they’d ever been.

On the morning leading up to the full moon, Jongin knelt behind Sehun waving his hair into one braid. Sehun painted Jongin’s face with earthy pastes of dull green, orange, and brown and took him a distance to a nearby river where Jongin could look at himself properly. They had both shed the black fabrics of the marshlands and adorned animal skins around their waists and over their shoulders. Jongin listened to the song Sehun sang and joined in with him, a song for the moon.

For the first time his heart beat in anticipation for nightfall, that odd thing inside of him feeling different without any silver impeding it. His body did ache though even after Sehun massaged each of his limbs.

“What if it’s inside of me and I still can’t shift?” Jongin asked as the sun began to set. “What if I’m so sick from the silver… somethin’ bad happens? Somethin’ unusual?”

By now his breathing was somewhat labored and the ache had grown into a clear discomfort. Sehun soothed him as much as he could but the truth was neither of them knew enough about the illness to be able to say what would happen. Sehun only told him that no matter what, he couldn’t howl. No one lurking in the forest could know their location.

It was a slow transformation.

First he became hot all over, his hair matting with sweat. He remained like that for an hour as the forest fell into darkness. Then his tongue felt thick, long, and papery as his vision began to change. Over several minutes his fingers, toes, and shoulders cracked as he cried in pain. In some places his skin ripped and bled. Sehun was there but could do nothing to help him.

But then the pain stopped. Jongin saw paws where hands should’ve been. He tried to stand but couldn’t. Beside him, Sehun’s large wolf nudged under his head then nudged under his body to help lift him and eventually Jongin stood. His tongue hung out of his mouth and his tail wagged in happiness but Sehun only looked at him strangely. It took a few moments to realize why.

While Sehun’s wolf form was large and covered with silky dark gray fur, Jongin could see from his front legs and sheer height of Sehun before him that he was very small, his fur brown and very thin. Beneath it in places you could see the skin. This was his wolf, finally released after a lifetime of being poisoned by silver that still pumped through his body. He must look so sickly. He wanted to switch back right then and there but didn’t know how. Odds are, he would be stuck like this until morning. 

Sensing his acute distress and sorrow, Sehun gracefully transformed back into his human form and gathered Jongin in his arms, petting his hair, scratching behind his ears, and rubbing along his back.

“You are beautiful, Jongin. You are strong and I’m so proud of you. I know it was painful for you, but this is the happiest moment of my life.” Jongin could only whine in response. “I want you to run with me… or walk. We can head to the meadow or to the river or just stay here by the fire or in the hut. Wherever you want to go tonight, I will follow you.” Back as a wolf, Sehun switched to licking his fur and soon enough Jongin relaxed under his body. 

Jongin used all his strength to push his little wolf all the way back to the meadow. He jumped and yipped with Sehun. He admired the large fangs in Sehun’s mouth and thought about how what he now knew to be the wolf inside of him fought when the humans ripped those from him. But it was a beautiful night, the sky clear to see the full moon and all the stars, the first time Jongin could look at it clearly and in peace.

He did not know when he had fallen asleep, but by morning his human form had returned, Sehun’s soft and warm wolf pillowing all the bandaged cuts and bruises his transformation had caused. 

Jongin gripped Brother’s stone that Sehun must’ve placed back around his neck and prayed that someday he could grow into a strong wolf like his mate and run with him endlessly under the night sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is what happens when I deprive myself of writing fluff for practically the whole story.
> 
> HOPEFULLY IT WAS ENJOYABLE TO AT LEAST THREE OF YOU eheh... I love a happy family. 
> 
> Cinnamon for president.
> 
> That is all.
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	16. ACT IV: LOST BOYS - CHAPTER III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

The day after the full moon, Sehun told Jongin the story of mating. He did so after Jongin shared his own story of Heechul whispering to him the lie of God blessing him with new life as Baekhyun had told him was possible years before. He told him of the dream the sorcerer had put into his mind of pups and a pack and a mate and how happy it made him. Jongin told Sehun that maybe now that he was free, God would truly bless him once he was well again. 

He did not know why the intense feeling of heartbreak and anger began radiating from the alpha. Jongin did not know that mating was the catalyst through which God put life inside omegas. He did not know that the actions of Chungho using him for pleasure shared this sacred name. He did not know that this was what marked the bond between mates.

And how was he supposed to? He had learned so much of the world yet still knew so little. He knew that Sehun’s body looked different from his, the length that hung between his legs very large more similar to a human’s while on all the omegas Jongin had seen it had been rather small and barely protruding. But he did not know that Sehun’s would grow hard like Chungho’s did, that Sehun would be overcome with the desire to hurt him like Chungho did, that this is what it meant for an alpha to reach maturity. 

He listened to the story of omegas even younger than himself having their first heat, how the head alpha would mount them first in front of the whole pack to add to his many children and that the following year they would be claimed for good by a common alpha who would sink fangs into their skin, bonding them for life and mounting them again.

_“But I don’t want to hurt you,”_ Sehun said to him. _“We don’t have to do any of that.”_

Now Jongin watched Sehun hunting for fish in the river, his body still aching from his rough transformation, skin drying from bathing in the river. Just like with the snake bite, his skin was not healing as a wolf’s should. The more he thought about Sehun’s words and Chungho’s actions, the more it felt shameful sitting there in the nude even though he had worn nothing but his skin and been washed by nothing but the rain for several years. It felt shameful feeling so safe in a place where omegas had been enslaved by their own people, violence that Sehun grew up thinking was normal and inevitable. It made him nauseous. 

But that was not Sehun now, not his Sehun who stood before him grinning with two fish caught in his net. This Sehun was gentle and kind, handsome and thoughtful, capable and loyal. Sehun was still being good to him despite knowing his body had been used by someone else. Jongin tried to think about what he could’ve done to prevent it. What would’ve happened if he’d pushed Chungho away each of those nights? What would’ve happened if he’d tried to run away from Palos sooner? He would be dead. He would have been strung up, shot, or burned. From what little he had told Sehun of Palos, the alpha likely knew this to be true as well. There was a reason his packmates hadn’t returned after all this time.

“Do you feel unwell?”

Jongin was pulled from his thoughts, flinching when he felt Sehun’s damp fingers touch his shoulder. The alpha pulled away, looking hurt.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just a lot to take in, what we were talkin’ about before. I like us right now? I… I _love_ us right now. But my heat… and your rut… I don’t want you to change. I don’t want to lose control of my body. It’s scary to think about. And uh… that man. They did so many things to me all those years. You can see it on my skin. And when you were explainin’ those things and I realized… it makes me so angry that even though I’m out of that place, it’s still takin’ things from me.”

Sehun sat down next to him, fingers tugging and twisting at his net. But he stopped after a moment and breathed. Jongin could feel his own wolf inside him now like a gentle, pulsing presence, its tail wagging in approval at Sehun’s proximity.

“You’ve gone through a lot, more than I could ever imagine. I know you don’t remember all of your nightmares, but I can sense whenever you’re having them. I’m angry for you, angry for what the humans put you through. I can’t say I’ll be able to do anything to lessen the effects of your heat. Just like with your first shift, that part will play out naturally. It can’t be stopped. But I can say I’ll do everything within my power to keep you safe during it, no matter when it happens.” 

If things had been different, Jongin could have been happy here with the little hut on the edge of the grove, a river and a meadow nearby, a reliable horse, and his mate. He could see the same thought in Sehun’s eyes the longer they sat in a silence, Jongin rubbing at his knees while Sehun looked at the birds flying overhead. 

“We’ll come back here someday,” Sehun said, “after we find a healer, after the war.”

In a place as calm and peaceful as this, talk of war seemed absurd. But just like Sehun whose mother and other pack omegas could still be out there, the affairs of the world also weighed heavy on Jongin’s mind. He thought of Baekhyun who had lost his pack many years ago now running off to the place of conflict. Was he safe? Had the fighting already started? Could a place like Palos die without them hearing of it all the way back at the palace in Nafatar? 

Perhaps because he’d never seen war and Master never told him stories of war, his imagination ran away when thinking about what war might really be like. He imagined the lodgers who changed the course of his life forever and multiplied them to an army the size that would take up an entire valley all wielding guns with silver bullets. 

“After the war I want you to give me a pup for each of the seasons just like in my dream.” Sehun looked at him in surprise, both of their faces reddening. “I want to show them the meadow. I want us all to learn how to read. I want to never be hunted again. I want to never see another human.” Sehun sighed in wonder at his words as if he were imagining it all.

“I want to find my mother and my omega sisters and brothers,” Sehun said. “I want to show them that I grew into someone that’s good for you… someone who can give you a pup for every season and love all of you well. And I’ll take care of them too. I’ll take care of everyone this time.”

Even if their time of maturity never came, Jongin knew that Sehun traveling so far from home would change him. Sehun had never ventured on his own past the marshlands. Sehun had never seen a human who wasn’t Taemin. 

Simply living made change inevitable and if anything were to change someone, it would be the mountains. And it ate at him, deeply, knowing that as things were right now couldn’t be his happy ending even if he grabbed Brother’s enchanted stone and prayed all night. 

That is why, perhaps, by the firelight that night Sehun looked so precious explaining to him what a kiss was. Jongin realized it is what the nameless boy had given him many years ago right before he died. While still trying to explain, tripping over his words, Jongin kissed Sehun just the same. For a second he thought the alpha would faint with the way he looked. But he didn’t. So Jongin kissed him lightly again. 

It felt as if the first star of their bond lit up in the sky, the first part of their fated story coming to an end.

***

They left the remnants of Sehun’s village before sunrise clean and dressed in fresh cloth. The alpha was familiar enough with the area to do so comfortably and he didn’t want to linger longer than they needed to. 

The entrances to the three huts were closed tight with wood and clay. Taemin’s things were left untouched and all but one of Sehun’s animal carvings were still lined neatly in a row. They would be back someday. Sehun predicted it would be just before the cusp of winter if the earlier snows in the mountains didn’t hold them up. He trusted Jongin to help him through that. If not then by the following spring when the path would be easier. Jongin gripped the stone hanging from his neck as he looked upon the site, sure this place would be protected for them, waiting for their return.

With the additional supplies they now carried, Jongin did his best to walk alongside Cinnamon to not tire her as quickly. He liked how Sehun would hold his hand as they walked together. He also liked how Sehun would voice the various little thoughts and tales that would pop into his mind, all the stories of his splinters, bumps, bruises, and childhood fears. Jongin would speak of his days at Evergreen Inn but nothing more. 

In the evenings they would set up their small tent and lay together as they did in the village. Sehun’s body was by no means bulky, but at night Jongin’s fingers would be drawn to the lean muscles that made up his arms and chest, the alpha in return running his fingers through his hair as he did back in the meadow. They would kiss sometimes, still unsure, still getting used to it. Despite being so close to Sehun, being his only company, Jongin found himself wanting to somehow be even closer as the days passed by, as flat woodland began to rise and incline. 

“Feel at home yet?” Sehun asked on their first real mountainous day two weeks later. 

Sehun rested atop a rock feeding Cinnamon as Jongin observed their surroundings. He tried to recall the things Master had told him about his travels through the mountains. Even on their fenced off plot of land, Jongin had learned the basics of tracking. Throughout the day he’d been looking for signs that anyone else had passed through the area recently. He saw nothing that would indicate such. 

“Maybe. Already the air is fresher.”

Sehun did not enjoy setting up camp here, grumbling at the harshness of the ground. If anything he realized why Jongin had been so excited about the meadow and the grove where he grew up filled with grass so soft there really was no need for furs in the warmer months. Jongin cooked the rabbit Sehun caught to make him feel better. 

But despite how much Jongin liked spending time walking hand in hand with Sehun, by the end of the third week he had begun to spend most of his time riding Cinnamon. A discomfort in his chest and a sensitivity on his skin had joined almost as a constant behind his bouts of headaches that evolved into a distinct vertigo. He just told Sehun he was growing tired from their travels though. He didn’t want to let the other boy know about the changes as they underwent another day of making their own mountain path through the thick underbrush, Sehun silently hacking away at it. 

The last road they’d seen had been days ago and they both decided it would be a good idea to stay clear of it to avoid any unnecessary run-ins. That and Jongin’s condition combined with the increasingly foreign surroundings slowed their progress more than Sehun had initially anticipated and Jongin could sense his frustration building because of it. When Sehun stopped in his tracks in broad daylight, eyes pure red, Jongin had feared the alpha was properly angry. 

“We will stop here for today,” Sehun said, securing Cinnamon and quickly moving to clear out a space on the forest floor. 

Jongin blinked as the forest around them spun in his vision slowly, an uncomfortable shiver going through him. He thought about urging Sehun to continue but he was feeling abnormally unwell today. Maybe a longer break would be good for the both of them.

He was unsteady on his feet when landing on the ground but attempted to begin unloading their supplies until Sehun sternly told him not to. Again he thought about objecting but sighed in a sort of relief when instead he just curled up on the ground, the dirt cool when he dug his fingers into it. 

It wasn’t until waking up that he realized he’d dozed off. Ahead of him the tent was all set up, Sehun’s arms hooked tight under his knees and round his back as he carried him to it. 

“Sorry. I’m just… a bit tired today.” He burrowed his face into the furs as Sehun smoothed his hand down his back, his scent covering him.

“Jongin. Jongin I need to tell you something,” Sehun said, shifting his position to face him but the omega had already fallen back asleep.

The next time he woke up, night had fallen. More than that, Jongin immediately felt how sore and hot his body was and how fast his heart was racing. He turned to face where Sehun usually situated himself, scent thick and heavy in the air but the alpha was not beside him. Struggling to pull himself into a crawl, Jongin moved towards the tent opening.

Outside it looked like how all of their mountainside campsites had looked: very small with the darkness around them seemingly just on the precipice of swallowing them whole. If Jongin looked up he knew he would struggle to see past the canopy into the night sky. But he didn’t look up. Instead his eyes were stuck on Sehun by the fire, his tunic and pants untied as he aggressively thrust his erect length through his fist. His red eyes snapped toward him almost immediately glowing eerily bright in the night. 

**_“Get back inside!”_ **

Jongin’s body moved without consciously thinking, responding to the order in Sehun’s voice. He fell back into the furs in shock and curled in on himself as another twisting pain and heat shot through his body.

His heat. 

Sehun’s rut. 

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. They were supposed to have time, were supposed to be safely back in the grove after the war, were supposed to know more about the world and have more of a foundation to their story. Did God see them? Was God watching them all alone in unknown lands?

Jongin gripped Brother’s stone and tried to pray, but all he could do was burst into tears. 

***

Sehun would keep him safe. Jongin knew this and his wolf knew it too. But he was still panicking. He didn’t know how long it had been since Sehun had sent him away. In his mind flashed vivid images of Heechul cutting into his palm, of the silver around his wrists, and of the cages he could not escape from as his body was overtaken more by the heat. He tore off his clothes in an attempt to cool off to little success. He pressed his face into Sehun’s side of the furs and tried to take a deep breath but ended up just smearing his tears, snot, and saliva all over it. It hurt so much. It burned so much like silver. He needed Sehun. Sehun was supposed to keep him safe.

“It’s ok. I’ve got you.” Jongin whimpered as Sehun pressed against his back, trembling. He immediately clung to Sehun’s arm but his grip was weak, the new wave of Sehun’s powerful scent draining the strength from his hands as they still sparked in pain like his skin was slowly being peeled away. “Your heat is starting. I thought I had more time to explain. But my rut. It hit fast. I didn’t mean it all to happen like this. I didn’t want to scare you.” Despite the hush of Sehun’s voice, Jongin could only scream. 

“Make it stop!” 

Sehun maneuvered him so they were facing each other. Jongin didn’t even look at his face before pushing his own into the alpha’s neck, latching onto the skin there with his front teeth. Inside of him the closeness soothed his wolf but the fire ravaging the rest of him only seemed to intensify. Sehun held him tighter, moving his leg between Jongin’s until his thigh pressed against the omega’s small length and dripping folds, rotating them again so Jongin was on top of him and began to rub himself against it rapidly. 

His release dulled the pain from excruciating to the precipice of bearable. He breathed deeply at the relief but soon enough a new stinging pain pulsed in his gut. When rubbing himself against Sehun again he hoped it would go away but instead along with his own slick and their scents mixing together came the smell of blood as the tent began to spin in his vision. He collapsed on top of Sehun as the stinging got worse and the alpha moved him again to lay back against the furs.

Sehun had been so focused on keeping Jongin safe. He’d smelled the odd change in his scent, saw how sluggish his mate had been becoming, stopped early enough to set up camp and mark a wider perimeter into the trees, and took stock of the supplies he might need to use to get Jongin through it. He’d wanted to make sure he was as calm as possible and in control of himself when he came to Jongin and he was even though his eyes were still red, hands still shaking, and was quickly being brought back to arousal. But it was not like he’d seen in other alphas. His mind still worked. He still had no urges to hurt his mate. 

But now the two of them were covered in Jongin’s blood that came from his opening mixed in with his slick. Heats were not supposed to be like this. They weren’t supposed to have blood or cause this much pain unless an alpha inflicted it on them. Something was very wrong and he didn’t know what to do even as Jongin continued to beg for his help, his eyes glowing fully now like the moon but unable to focus on anything. 

Then as if the entire world were against them, one wolf howled followed by another, wolves that were coming to take the omega whose heat was calling to all on the mountainside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	17. ACT IV: LOST BOYS - CHAPTER IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Sehun had been born when his pack was staying by the sea. His mother said that as a newborn sometimes even the promise of milk would not be enough to take away his fascination with how the water would ebb and flow on the rocky shore. It had been a long winter for the pack, one where many had died, fled, or went to go fight in a war the once great packs had lost years before. Even so, there were still too many mouths to feed and many other pregnant omegas who would be giving birth further into the spring and summer months. His father, the head alpha, constantly took stock of everyone’s necessity especially when it came to his own offspring who were plentiful. It was decided that Sehun would be the only one in his litter to be allowed to live. The other two, both betas, were given to the sea. His young mother was convinced in her sorrow that Sehun had sensed his siblings drowning that day and so always wanted to be as close to the waves as he could get waiting for them to come back. 

The conflict that would change the lives of wolves forever was said to have started because of resources. It was rumored that the crops of the human kingdom had all but turned to dust, their people plagued, their leaders infighting. But the human king of Nafatar, a nameless, faceless ruler, claimed a vision came to him in the night. He claimed that a deity of some kind spoke to him. So not long after, aligned with a group of lost sorcerers, the humans sent a message to the head alphas of the great packs saying that they would surrender their land, their trade routes, and their freedom or they would die for it was only in a world where the wolf beasts were tamed that the Kingdom of Nafatar would flourish once again. 

It came at a time of great political tension within the largest and most powerful pack. It broke their unity and split their people. Sehun’s father was part of that pack and always said it was only a matter of time. He said that the humans, vile as they were, only sped up the process. One by one over the next twenty years each of the seven head alphas of the great packs fell as campaign after campaign of human warriors and sorcerers traveled further and further into the wolf territories. During those twenty years, many agreements between the two sides had been reached then broken. Many towns and villages carrying the flag of Nafatar on land that once belonged to wolves were decimated by counterattacks. For another twenty years it became a matter of evading slaughter or enslavement for all wolves who remained. 

Sehun’s father did not let his own pride lead to his death like so many others who wanted to defend their most sacred lands. Instead he took the anger gained from watching their once great society burn and became a godlike figure to his band of nomads. Survival mattered above all else. He would claim the first heats of every omega in his pack for all those years even impregnating his own children. He would have the alphas take out their aggression on each other seemingly traumatized from the war they had evaded and the family they had abandoned. The alphas born after them would continue this culture of violence and sacrifice. It is what would kill his mother’s eventual mate a season before they settled in the grove of chestnut trees. Standing with his new omega mate to one side and a half dead Taemin on a leash on the other, their head alpha claimed proudly that something spoke to him about the grove, that it was where they were meant to be and start again just like in the vision that had come to him in his dreams. Head alpha, self proclaimed descendent of the moon spirits, instructed them all to unpack their tents for the last time. 

Sehun knew very little of other wolves or packs. All he knew was that the people he grew up with had been the ones to survive. Even his own mother was too young to have been around for the beginning of the war and the turmoil that surrounded it. Because of this, Sehun had a hard time putting into words what exactly he blamed his father for. He was a strong leader. He kept them safe for a long time. He was cruel but perhaps that is what it meant to rule. Once the fate that had befallen so many others came to their own pack, however, he would see why someone would choose to run and hide. Sehun had never seen bodies torn apart in such gruesome ways. He couldn’t even look into his father’s eyes that last time in an attempt to make sense of it all. His head had been bashed into mush. 

He could’ve gone after them, could’ve fought for his mother and the others but he didn’t and Taemin didn’t blame him for it. Together they ignored the world. Taemin only wanted inner peace and hopefully at least in death he’d gotten what he’d wanted, was resting easy. But the turmoil that had erupted within Sehun the second he laid eyes on Jongin was too powerful to ignore. He wanted nothing more than to run and hide again, protect Jongin from a world that had already all but destroyed him. The last thing he wanted to do was go to war. Despite having no memory of the sea, he wanted to take Jongin there, love him, grow old with him. But that is not how fate would have it.

“Jongin,” he said, taking the omega by the shoulders until he rested against him. “Drink this. For me? It should… it might help with the pain.” Beneath his fingers, Jongin keened with every breath but his lips still opened to accept the only medicinal tea Sehun knew how to make. “And this. Lots of water. It should help with the heat,” Sehun said, placing a wet cloth over Jongin’s forehead while also giving him water to drink. 

After laying Jongin’s head back down, he went through the rest of the supplies he’d brought into the tent grabbing a vial of lavender and all their extra scraps of cloth and furs. When he turned back around to Jongin, the omega’s legs were spread wide, fingers rubbing harshly against himself even though it seemed to no longer be bringing him any pleasure or muting any pain, his eyes closed tight in discomfort. Jongin’s breath hitched when Sehun began rubbing the lavender over his chest and arms, sobbing again as he skipped his intimate area for his thighs and only went lower. 

“Knot me… knot me, Sehun… please… you promised… p-promised if I asked…”

Jongin’s voice had grown quiet and hoarse and Sehun moved to brush the damp hair out of his face. His eyes still glowed like the moon, beautiful and strange compared to the typical yellow of omegas and betas but they were less unfocused now. Maybe the fluids were helping. Maybe this first wave of heat was passing.

“I need you to listen to me, alright?” he said, stilling Jongin’s hand by cupping it with his own. “Show me where it hurts the most.”

“Here…” Jongin placed his other hand low on his stomach. “The worst is here.” Sehun placed both of his hands over the area hoping to soothe it but Jongin only jerked in pain when he applied pressure.

“There’s something wrong, Jongin. I don’t know what but I’m going to figure it out. But there’s something dangerous coming for us right now. I need to go take care of that first. I’ve put lavender over your body and scented the trees surrounding the camp to keep others away. If something seems off or if you hear me howl, I need you to try your best to get out of here. Take Cinnamon if you can. If not, then make your way up the mountain on your own.”

“Those wolves I heard… that wasn’t in my head?” Jongin asked, now grabbing Sehun’s wrists.

“No, it wasn't.”

Jongin held his wrists tighter and his legs squeezed back together. His tongue came out to run over his lips and he made more sounds of discomfort. But then Jongin did the unexpected. He let go, slowly, looking deep into Sehun’s eyes. Jongin understood. 

“Give me your machete. Put it in my hands,” Jongin said gritting his teeth through another wave of pain. 

Like Sehun he probably realized that the two of them couldn’t run away, not like this. Like Sehun he had seen violence, seen death. Like Sehun he knew that wolves could be cruel just as a human could. But Sehun didn’t want to do as Jongin asked. He didn’t want to think of that possibility. 

“I said you were to run if it came to it. You _will_ run,” he said, cursing himself as his voice cracked while doing so.

“I can’t outrun a wolf like this, Sehun. You don’t need me to tell you that. But I won’t be taken by anyone but you. I won’t meet God with anyone but you. I have faith that our love is written in the stars and you will come back to me… and if you want me to stand a chance against them, to buy you more time if they get to me, then I need… need a way to defend myself.”

Sehun still did not understand Jongin when he spoke of this god. Jongin never looked to the moon or anything in nature for guidance, only this unknowable being. He did not understand the way Jongin spoke of bonds even if the way he spoke of it was beautiful. But Sehun nodded like he understood, like he believed these fanciful things, these stories of unknown origin. 

“Yes. Our love is written in the stars,” he repeated, watching Jongin break out into a tired smile. Jongin whispered to him in thanks as he gripped the handle, the blade pressing against the furs, their foreheads touching. But there was no time. Jongin wordlessly pushed him away as if he knew Sehun could not bring himself to go on his own. He was the younger of the two of them, after all, and Jongin looked at him in that moment just like that.

The open air of their campsite wasn’t as thick with the scent of Jongin’s heat as inside the tent. It cooled his skin and his arousal, cleared his head enough for his wolf to concentrate with everything around him turning sharper. 

He found the memory of his father coming to him, all the times he had looked upon the head alpha in fear. He thought of how his father wouldn’t even watch his fights as he was pushed to the ground by other young alphas wrestling in the dirt. Sehun was not a warrior. His mother told him as much in the nights he helped soothe her aching body and make her laugh. _“But you will need to learn to fight to last in this world, to keep your gentle heart beating,”_ she’d told him on a night he came to her finally letting out his tears marred with cuts and bruises. _“To protect the human that head alpha keeps.”_

Even in his wolf form, Sehun’s body carried the remnants of Jongin’s slick, blood, and sweat. The smell of the omega’s heat clung to his fur enough that it should distract the approaching threat. He took a straight line from their camp down the mountain, the wind carrying behind him. Soon enough he reached it, the path they had been avoiding. The underbrush was less prominent here and through focusing his ears he could hear the movements of one of the wolves. It slowed for a few moments before Sehun could smell that it was an alpha, the slowing of its steps coinciding with when the wind would’ve carried his own alpha scent down to the approaching wolf, his disguise failing at such close range.

Sehun crouched lower to the ground, ready to spring in any direction that he needed and growled just as much to intimidate the enemy alpha as he was to calm the rapid beating of his heart. He wondered if just like his father, this alpha could smell his fear. 

He saw red eyes before the rest of the black wolf stepped out on the path, its teeth bared as it stalked towards him. But this alpha, Sehun noticed, was different from those in his pack. The difference was in the wild state of its eyes. It was like looking upon an animal afflicted with a rabid rage, mind lost.

It lunged at him like one too and Sehun could only evade so many times before it knocked him to the ground just like he’d been so many times before. But Sehun knocked the beast off of him, possible only because they were roughly the same size. Sehun quickly circled, lifting his front off the ground in an attempt to use his claws to push the wolf further down the mountain, away from Jongin and off balance. It was only when he heard the snapping of underbrush behind him that he realized he had made a mistake. 

He could tell the second wolf was larger than him just by the force in which he was shoved down only managing to turn his body slightly to avoid getting his neck torn out as the second wolf’s fangs sunk into one of his front legs. A few seconds of trying to escape the hold, Sehun could feel the bone there quickly on its way to breaking as the claws of the first wolf dug down his back and into his side. He whined more as his vision grew spotty, howl dying in his throat when the first’s fangs pierced into him as well.

But then both wolves let go of him. Panting heavily on the ground, Sehun’s confusion soon cleared when he saw two other wolves approaching from opposite ends of the path. Immediately each of them attacked one of the alphas. One was a sandy brown and the other similar in shade to Jongin yet nowhere near as petite. Sehun struggled to stand back up, falling twice before finally forcing himself into a crouch.

The sandy wolf seemed to be holding his own rather well while the brown one was getting forced further and further back. Sehun ran somewhat unsteadily towards the later pair, leaping onto the alpha and catching it off guard enough that what he could now scent as a beta could land multiple debilitating blows one after the other. Soon the alpha all but lay dead, the beta backing away and lowering its head in apparent submission to Sehun. 

Behind him he turned to see the sandy wolf, another beta, muzzle coated in the blood of the alpha that was in a motionless heap further down the rough path. It was then that Sehun realized what the betas were waiting for him to do. Was it a sign of respect? Did they think he was filled with the same bloodlust the other alphas had exhibited? The sandy beta’s eyes were piercing even as it circled to stand closer to his companion. Unlike the alphas, he could see the present mind behind their wolf eyes. 

Sehun stood over the dying wolf, its fangs still showing in defiance as it writhed on the ground in hopeless attempts to stand. It was up to him to end this. So he did. The blood of the alpha spilled into his mouth as he ripped out its throat just like he’d seen too many times before in his own pack. The two betas continued to watch him as he backed away, grappling with his own shock at what he’d done. He tensed as the brown wolf took a step forward before transforming into a young man, a set of fresh claw marks by his waist. 

“My name is Yixing,” the man announced into the darkness with an accent Sehun did not recognize. He gestures to the other wolf. “And this is my mate, Han. He is an intelligence officer in the fight of your people against the Nafatar Kingdom and I am a healer in that same fight. You are hurt. I can help you.”

Sehun held his ground, still reluctant to relax while he processed the information given. He looked towards Han until the sandy beta shifted as well leaving the both of them equally vulnerable in front of him. He was slight, more so than Yixing, but his gaze was as intense and unwavering as it was in his wolf form, his muscles toned yet discreet. If not for his scent, he could have just as easily been mistaken for an alpha as he would be an omega. 

Sehun braced himself and shifted as well, groaning in pain as his torn skin stretched and reformed. Yixing quickly began walking towards him, looking at his left arm which had been bitten through to the bone. He sucked in a breath when Yixing touched it.

“Han. Go back to camp and fetch my things,” Yixing said.

“Wait!” The adrenaline was still pulsing through him, making his legs shake as he stood tall. “I’m fine. But my mate. I had to leave him at our camp. There’s something wrong. He… he needs help. Please… _please_ … help him.”

***

Their progress back up the mountain was much slower than Sehun would’ve liked. Even with Yixing’s help, each step forward made him the slightest bit disoriented. He hadn’t taken time to look at his own injuries but he could feel them and he could see the way Yixing looked at him.

“You poor thing,” Yixing said, steadying Sehun on his uninjured side as they stepped over a fallen tree. “You’re just a pup.”

“I’m not a pup,” Sehun said weakly. 

“I can tell this is your first rut. To me and to Han especially that means you’re still a pup,” he said, something about his tone changing at the mention of his mate. “It is dangerous for you and your mate to be out this way.” Sehun did not inquire further, Yixing’s words making his mind hyperfocus back on Jongin, willing himself to move faster even though it hurt to walk. He had set out to protect Jongin like a true alpha should but he had failed, had almost died pitifully. He tried not to let those thoughts get to him as they continued to traverse through the darkness. It was nothing short of a miracle that the beta pair had arrived when they did. More than that, one ended up being a healer. Sehun refused to frown on such fortune. 

Sehun stumbled when they reached the campsite, another wave of arousal coursing through him despite the state he was in. The places where the alphas had gotten him with their claws had stopped bleeding but were still open and still stung. His arm and shoulder, however, was still mangled likely much worse than the bite marks on his lower back. With bandages and support it would be healed enough in a few days. 

“Wait out here until I call you,” he said to the beta, his wolf growing restless and overjoyed so close to Jongin’s scent again. “I don’t want to startle him.” 

Inside, Jongin had covered himself completely with the furs. Sehun called out his name and Jongin only whimpered in response. Beneath he was drenched in sweat but he still held the machete gripped tightly in his hands. Sehun placed a hand on Jongin’s back, rubbing there gently while the omega took in several deep breaths, tears streaming down his face as he took in the one scent he wasn’t sure he would ever experience again, his eyes trying to regain focus. 

“You’re hurt… Sehun, you’re hurt…” he said when his eyes finally settled upon his body.

“I’ll be fine. We’re not in danger anymore. I have a healer. I’ve brought him here, a beta.” Sehun switched to rubbing Jongin’s wrists until he let go of the weapon and placed it aside. “I want him to take a look at you.” Jongin moved his face forward until his nose was pressed up against where their hands were clasped together while Sehun called out to Yixing. 

“Hello there,” the wolf said with a dimpled smile, crawling into the small space. 

“This is Jongin,” Sehun supplied. “Jongin, this is Yixing. His mate will be here soon with everything we need to make you feel better.” 

“I will need to remove the furs. Is that alright with you?” Yixing asked, looking at Sehun who looked to Jongin. The omega nodded and Yixing looked curiously upon them at the exchange. 

Sehun paled as the furs were removed. There was blood everywhere, much more so than there had been before. Yixing muttered something under his breath in a language Sehun couldn’t understand. 

Jongin cried out when Yixing suddenly spread him wider and instantly it was as if Sehun’s wolf took over his movements, roughly shoving Yixing backwards. The beta eyed him warily, laying his hands flat at his sides and showing his neck. 

“I mean no harm to your omega. But I will need to get a closer look and I will need to touch him if my thoughts prove true.”

“Sehun…” Jongin called from behind him. “It’s alright. I’m sorry. Just come back here? Just be next to me.” Jongin’s voice made his wolf retreat and Sehun regained his senses looking between the two of them. 

“Of… of course. I apologize.” 

Sehun did as Jongin requested of him, gritting his teeth as Yixing moved back into his previous position. It was only then that he realized Yixing had picked up one of their spare rags along the way and he used it to clear the blood to see properly. After a few moments Yixing backed away.

“Will you speak with me outside, Sehun?”

Sehun looked at Jongin, continuing to rub his fingers on his scalp to keep him calm under the foreign touch. The omega nodded and Sehun brought the furs back up to cover his lower half and placed the canister of water nearby once again.

“Your omega is very ill,” Yixing said a bit gravely once they were a bit of a distance away from the tent. “Surely you know this.”

“Yes. He has silver poisoning. We set off this way hoping to find a healer like you. Jongin heard that many wolves were gathering in the Forest of Casia. He was freed several weeks ago from slavers in Palos.”

“Silver poisoning is not so simple as a cold or a fever,” Yixing said, pausing as if to choose his next words carefully. “It advances slowly and silently over long periods of time mostly as a result of faulty or otherwise lazy sorcery. For how long was he bound?”

“His whole life. Sixteen years,” Sehun said. Yixing took a step closer to him.

“Then the illness was already quite advanced. An omega’s heat taps into the natural magical properties present in all wolves. The damage has likely been impacting his womb for years and now with the onset of his heat it is failing. At this point, he will never be able to conceive. He may not even have another heat again. Even if you wish for him to live past tonight, he will never return to his full strength.”

“I don’t care about that,” Sehun said sharply. “I need you to save him! To do something! I love him. He is my mate. I don’t care about anything else.” Sehun did little to hide his anger as he knew the cause of Yixing’s confusion. Perhaps it was not just his own pack that viewed omegas so simply as ones to provide offspring. Perhaps even amongst the once great packs, there were few alphas who chose to be different. 

“Then you will need to claim him. Immediately. Mark him. It will suspend his heat for long enough for me to do what I need to do. When Han gets back you will give him a sleeping remedy and I will do what I can. Then we can discuss further how to manage and then perhaps save him from the silver that slowly takes him.” 

Sehun did not waste another moment before turning away. 

***

The omega pups in Sehun’s pack always kept their distance, huddling together to complete their tasks. It only took so many years for him to realize they did so because they were afraid of him and were afraid of all alphas even if they silently respected them. Taemin never vocalized those fears each night when Sehun would sit by the cage he was kept in to slip him food from the hunt. Taemin barely spoke back then, just listened to Sehun talking to him, keeping him company at a great risk.

But despite the omegas keeping away from or otherwise remaining silent in front of alphas, just like that they were bound to one forever in a sometimes gruesome display of dominance, giving all of themselves to the bond during their mating ceremony. It was unsettling to think about the more he watched the omegas from afar and the more his mother stayed silent when he would ask her more probing questions just patting him on the head and telling him how gentle he was, how good of a mate he would be someday.

Jongin knew nothing of that sort of life though. He asked him each day to tell him a story of pack life and what it was like to have such a large family. So Sehun told him the good parts, trying to only reveal the bad things when he felt it was best for Jongin to know. But no matter which stories he told, Jongin would always keep him close talking about the type of society he imagined in his dreams like he could simply speak it into existence. And like so many things Jongin spoke about, Sehun began to want it too, began to imagine that maybe someday somehow it could all come to be.

“Am I going to die like this?” Jongin asked once Sehun was by his side again.

“No,” Sehun said softly. He hovered over Jongin, ignoring the strain it put on his injured arm while he wiped some of the sweat from Jongin’s face. "Don't say things like that." 

“I’m so dizzy, Sehun. So dizzy…” 

“I know. But it’s going to be ok. I… I…” Sehun hesitated, feeling his words grow shaky. “Jongin, the healer can help you but he will be able to work best while you are asleep. I know you are in a lot of pain, but my claiming mark will help soothe your heat and stop the bleeding enough for Yixing to work. Are you alright with that?” Jongin’s face was already flushed red but the red only grew deeper as Sehun spoke.

“It’s time? For us to become mates for real in the way you told me about?”

“Yes… yes, mates for real.” Jongin smiled.

“There are few things I’ve wanted so desperately, Sehun. You know that. Though I wish it could’ve happened under better circumstances… in a beautiful place… in the sunshine…”

“Adorned with all the flowers of the meadow after bathing in the river, I know,” Sehun said looking upon him fondly even though his heart was pounding. “When you wake up, I promise you’ll have flowers at the very least.” Jongin’s laugh was cut off by another pulse of pain and Sehun wasted no more time, maneuvering him until he sat upright leaning back against his chest. 

There was no doubt Jongin could feel how much his arms trembled as he held him, nose pressing into his neck as he let his sweet scent surround and hold him in kind. Sehun could feel his wolf surging forth, his eyes glowing red as his fangs elongated, the very same ones he had used to kill that very same night. Such a long night it had been, so much his heart had been hurt and strained and filled evermore with love.

Sehun groaned in tandem with Jongin’s screams as he sunk down, the omega thrashing weakly in his arms while grasping the stone that hung from his neck. But in the whirlwind of pain it was as if every barrier between the two of them was melting away. A pleasant burn began to simmer from his fangs all the way through his body followed by pure ecstasy. Jongin’s body stilled and his scream died off into a drawn out moan, the smell of his sudden release permeating the air. 

But the blinding pleasure faded and in its absence it felt like their hearts beat together, like two lost souls touching each other at last. Sehun could feel Jongin’s confusion, his fear, and his love. Deeper down he could feel a cold anger, sorrow, and frustration. Jongin's free hand lifted to stroke through Sehun’s hair as he licked at the wound he had caused, no doubt also experiencing for the first time all the things Sehun felt within himself. Of course the claiming mark also bled more than it should, even the healing properties of their bond somewhat compromised but after a few minutes it had closed enough to be left alone. 

Jongin nudged him until their lips met and Sehun kissed him more deeply than he ever had before, the sweetness of his scent somehow now strong on his tongue, his wolf howling in delight. He stopped when a slight shiver shook Jongin’s body, his eyes drooping, and he reached down to pull the furs back up to his waist as Jongin’s heat rapidly began subsiding just like Yixing said it would.

Outside by the renewed campfire, Han emerged with all of the beta pair’s belongings and Yixing immediately began giving his mate instructions on all that needed to be prepared for the young omega. 

_We’ll be alright_ , Sehun thought, feeling the sentiment of the words travel through their bond as Jongin pulled him closer. Somehow against all odds from the marshlands to the mountains, they had made it this far, two lost boys wandering into the unknown. 

Now in more ways than one they were no longer alone. Now if their love truly was written in the stars, they would continue forward as mates through the mountains and into the Forest of Casia, former home to the most powerful of the once great packs, the place his father left behind long ago. 

**END OF ACT IV: LOST BOYS**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all... we're really almost at the end of this fic already. T__T Of course this chapter has a decent dose of action (plus a change in POV??? and new characters???) which I'm really not confident in writing so hopefully it was thrilling enough that your imagination could get you the rest of the way there. The final act of this first story is next and it would be super groovy if this fic could get 100 kudos by the end so yes this is me not being cool and asking if you would be so kind as to hit that button! Feedback on this chapter as all chapters is welcome. If anything seemed a bit rough/rushed/unclear please let me know. But alas, with only my own brain and eyeballs this is the best I could come up with for now~~~ Until then, stay tuned for Act V: Kingdom. 
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	18. ACT V: KINGDOM - CHAPTER I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

Baekhyun once told Jongin in a moment of anger and fear that he would never know freedom as he had. He spoke of the freedom before the wagon, before the silver bindings, before those lodgers had hunted down and killed all that remained of his pack. That memory replayed in a dream Jongin had just the other day when he fell asleep by the fire as Sehun massaged his sore waist and thighs. He’d woken up in Sehun’s arms deep into the night and wondered if what he had now was the freedom Baekhyun spoke of. 

For weeks it was as if the two of them were the only ones in the world, rulers of their own kingdom, presiding over all the squirrels and deer and foxes. Their thrones sat at the bases of trees and their feasts were of wildberries and stews and rabbits. Was this the freedom he was supposed to have never known? That’s the first thing Jongin wanted to ask Baekhyun if they ever found each other again… after they hugged tighter and longer than they had gotten to in the Madame’s rooms and after he introduced Sehun to him. He hoped the two of them would get along. 

But at the same time he was anxious. This world was a cruel one and they did not rule over it. This world was one that had eradicated almost all of his kind save for the omegas the humans kept for themselves to grow their crops, build their towns, make their beds, and forcibly _falsely_ mate. That was the kingdom they were in even if they were far from any human settlement. That was the kingdom Baekhyun and Sehun had lived in with their packs too, an invisible wall that had surrounded all of them their entire lives. Maybe Baekhyun was never as free as he thought he’d been. Maybe true freedom was only in Heaven. 

“Easy! Try not to move.” Jongin struggled against the hands pressing his shoulders down. In the end, it was the cramping, soreness, and a sort of sensory overload coaxing his body into stillness more so than the words of the man looking down at him. “Do you remember me?” the man asked. 

Remember him? Remember…

Jongin continued squinting at his face, looking at the way long strands of black hair fell from the knot secured atop his head. He took in his… dull scent and the strange tilt to his words… 

“Healer…” he said before coughing a few times. The man gave him water. Jongin closed his eyes and past his discomfort felt almost a sort of warmth inside of him, one that hadn’t been there before. One he hadn’t felt until Sehun… until he… 

“Yes. I am Yixing, a healer. Your mate, Sehun, brought me to you. Do you feel pain?”  
  


Jongin opened his eyes again but relaxed more into the furs as he mentally regained his bearings, the strange muscle spasms that must’ve woken him up ceasing. He could feel the place between his shoulder and neck where Sehun had left his claiming mark. He could feel Sehun was part of him, his wolf lulled and quieted by the claim coursing through his veins. 

“No… not pain, exactly… is Sehun…?” 

“He should be coming back to camp soon. Does it hurt when I press here?” Yixing asked, pressing down on his stomach until Jongin winced.

“A little but… nothin’ like before.” He noticed then that there were bandages of a sort that secured something soft between his legs.

“It is to keep the area from more irritation or possible infection,” Yixing supplied. “Sehun knows how to care for it.” 

Jongin reached his hand down to feel and sure enough the lower he pressed, the more painful it became. But he recalled the state he’d been in before. He remembered the wetness first then the frantic chasing of pleasure. He remembered the blood. But all that had been rattling his body the night before had ceased minus an odd tingling irritation beneath his skin. The burning, digging pain was gone, but he still felt weak. Oddly so. 

“Sehun told me heats lasted for days,” he said. “Why did mine stop?”

“The natural remedy I gave you helped ease it and put you to sleep. Given the complications you were having, it would not be unusual for your heat to be abnormally brief.” 

Yixing didn’t seem worried when he spoke or when he pulled the furs back up Jongin’s body to cover him again. He had a soft but clear voice even with his strange accent. Jongin tried to relax more, opening his mouth when Yixing urged him to drink some more water but any movement on his part seemed to drain what little energy he found himself now to begin with, a ringing in his ears slowly fizzling out when he let his head drop backwards again.

“Where did you get that stone?” the healer asked after he’d completed his examination and gathered up the supplies he must’ve brought into the tent to check up on him, motioning to where Brother’s stone had slid to rest on the ground beside Jongin’s neck. 

“It was a gift.”

Instead of perhaps nodding then excusing himself to take care of other matters, Yixing situated himself beside Jongin once again, reaching out to pick up the stone and rest it gently on the covers over Jongin’s chest, hand only moving away slowly.

“I have spent much time with sorcerers even though I am not of their kind and even though where I come from they are shunned,” Yixing said, his voice quieter and softer than it had been previously as if he did not want to be overheard. “It is because although I am not gifted with magic, I am sensitive to it. I can sense when it is at work, when it flows through things or manifests something before my eyes. So I knew when I laid eyes on you that you had been touched by dark magic. Not just touched… you were consumed by it. It leaves within you an unusual shadow and it lives with you now, potent, in this stone that was gifted to you.”

Jongin’s body tensed as soon as the word _sorcerer_ was uttered. The more the beta spoke, the more Jongin felt an urge to run away, far away, because he could not understand the way Yixing was looking at him and the ambiguity of his scent left him that much more in the dark about his intentions. Even the thought of magic still made him uncomfortable. Frightened, almost. But he still trusted Brother, loved him. The boy had sat with him within his soul, saved his life, and showed him the path to his mate. But what of Yixing? Who had Sehun really invited into their camp?

“The stone won’t hurt me,” Jongin said, his heart beating faster. 

“It is in the nature of dark magic to hurt, manipulate, and destroy. Yet I do not know how but am fairly certain that it is the stone that saved your life last night. With the amount of blood you lost, there is no other explanation. It’s why I was curious about its origins. Nothing more. I am no threat to you but that stone is not your friend. In ways neither of us may be able understand, you could now be indebted to it.” 

It was only when Yixing began pushing on his shoulders again that Jongin realized he had attempted to get up and away from him, pain shocking and radiating from his core as a result. He breathed in and out deeply until it subsided and prepared to ask Yixing to leave until he became aware once again of the warm presence inside of him, now feeling _off_ . Strange. It was as if the presence were… _worried_. 

“Jongin!” Sehun’s voice sounded loudly from the distance, running footsteps booming against the forest floor. “Jongin!” he called out again when roughly pushing the flap of the tent back. The quick movement of Sehun coming to his side made Jongin’s vision swim but the irritation beneath his skin instantly started to ease once he was there, even more so when Sehun touched his face. “Are you alright? I could feel your… your… unease? I could feel it inside me.”

“You will discover and learn how to navigate your bond in time,” Yixing said quietly from behind him. “Your omega is recovering as anticipated. We can speak about the future more tonight.” 

Jongin only looked at Sehun as Yixing left, holding the alpha’s hand against his face as he began to feel more at ease, the feeling coming from that now once again steady warmth inside of him. It was as if Sehun’s feelings were pouring into him in real time, calming him in a way much more powerful than what his scent could do before. But when he finally did take in his mate’s scent, he could smell the same arousal there had been when he was consumed by his heat.

Sehun was still in rut and he had been off in the forest alone… to… 

“I don’t trust these wolves you found,” Jongin whispered, still aware of the betas in their camp even with his head beginning to ache again. Sehun didn’t answer for a few minutes, instead burying his face into where his mark was left, hands running through his hair. 

“They saved your life _and_ mine. Of all the people we could’ve run into, these are ones we can trust. Our plan worked, Jongin. There’s no need to be afraid.” 

Jongin let himself rest beside Sehun for a little while. He felt the air around him and even through the fog still clearing in his mind, he could tell that it was the afternoon. He had slept all day but the fatigue that had been growing prior to his heat was still there if not worse. It was like the longer he was awake, the more pain and irritation and exhaustion he felt. He did not want to argue, he did not want to speak, but he must make Sehun understand. Yixing’s words did not sit well with him. Even if these betas truly were friends, it made sense to keep their guard up. Anything less would be carelessness. 

“Heechul saved my life too,” he responded, not needing to explain more. Sehun knew the story.

“This isn’t like that.”

“How do you know?”

“I fought beside them. They know of what happens in the Forest of Casia. They have been with those fighting against the humans. If they can’t take us there themselves, they can at least show us the way and give us more information,” Sehun said. 

“Trust them then,” Jongin said, not wanting to speak much more as his vision began swimming again. “I will only trust you though. Promise me you won’t leave me alone with them again.” He sighed when Sehun bent down, nose nudging near his own, protective scent flooding over him in silent apology. 

“I promise.”

“Not… not even if your rut acts up again,” Jongin found himself adding. “I’m here for that. I can help you. I want to help you.” Sehun’s movements stilled, a blush coloring his skin before he moved, sitting up straight. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not well. My rut will end soon enough. We can try those things another time.” Something strange, almost like a sadness, traveled through their bond at Sehun’s words. Jongin did not know what to make of it. And for the first time in weeks, Sehun was avoiding his gaze again. Maybe Sehun could feel the hurt of rejection Jongin felt from his own wolf and that is why he instead dropped kisses to his forehead and the side of his face. “Next time, Jongin. I promise that too.”

***

Neither Yixing nor his mate entered the tent again for the rest of the day. Sehun brought in soup for him but Jongin could only eat so much. He should be hungry but his appetite was almost entirely gone and after a few spoonfuls, he started to feel nauseous. It was Sehun’s tea he drank instead even though the boy insisted that Yixing’s brews were those of a healer and would be better for lessening his pain. But Jongin knew pain well and this was not pain, none that he couldn’t handle. It was disorientation and exhaustion that was getting to him. He just needed more rest and for Sehun to curl around him like he always did.

It was dusk when the betas requested both of their presence and Sehun helped him out of the tent to a distance a bit further away from the fire than they usually sat. Jongin was thankful for it but still took the chance now to observe Han, the beta who had been mentioned by name but whose face he didn’t remember seeing. He appeared stern, even cold in a way that made Yixing seem inviting in comparison. His hair was cut short like a human male’s and how Jongin’s had been long ago. From a distance he might even appear human, especially atop the brown horse Jongin now noticed beside Cinnamon. 

“Alpha Sehun, it is good to see your omega is feeling better,” Han began before looking at Jongin. “I am Han, formerly of the Lu family. This is my mate Yixing, formerly of the Zhang family.” Han then switched back to look at Sehun where Jongin sensed his attention would stay. “We are from an empire far to the west of here. Through many trading outposts, it is loosely connected with the Kingdom of Nafatar. Years ago it was similarly connected to your eastern wolf packs however given the immense distance between our lands, the humans from Nafatar have not given us any trouble. My mate spent all of his youth learning medicine. He then served in the army under Emperor Wu Jiaheng. It is for that army I also served. Six years ago we began traveling east learning more in the art of healing but also to see for ourselves what had become of the once great eastern packs. What we found was ruin and a small alliance of wolves and sorcerers plotting to take back what had been lost. 

“We joined them and aided in reconnaissance mostly in analyzing all human settlements beyond these mountains and more recently the extent throughout Nafatar where wolves have been enslaved and sorcerers brought up in the Nafatar tradition. Almost two moons ago, our first full scale offensive began in the town called Palos, a declaration of war from the resistance we have built up over these years. Similar attacks happened shortly thereafter in towns beyond Palos. Now with our numbers increased, we press back into the mountains through to the Forest of Casia to take back a Nafatar military outpost that surrounds Lake Argen, the most sacred place of your people. You are the first alpha, albeit young, we have encountered in a long time and we are inviting you to join in this fight.” 

Sehun’s posture straightened as his alpha rank was addressed but Jongin could tell he was still taking in the tale of the journey of the two betas. Jongin found himself frowning instead. Just like when he was a child, he wondered how far it was land could go. To be so far from Nafatar that in all this time there were wolves the Blood Riders hadn’t touched or bothered with at all? An… _empire_? Did that mean a pack? A group of packs, perhaps? With a wolf army? Such a place had existed all of this time… and had let the situation in Nafatar get to such a dire state before thinking to interfere. 

Sehun’s arm tightened a bit around him, the alpha likely sensing the darkness entering his thoughts. But he couldn’t help but think of Palos and of all the death and pain he had witnessed. Surely this emperor must have a great knowledge of the world. Surely this emperor must have known about the slaughter happening in the east. But if what Han said was true, the emperor had done nothing until the damage had all been done.

“What of the alphas we fought in the woods?” Sehun asked. “Where did they come from? Why did they attack?” 

Sehun’s injuries from that encounter seemed to have healed nicely during the time Jongin had spent unconscious. His movements were still stiff and his skin still torn but his arm was no longer wrapped in a sling and his face was not as ghostly pale as it had appeared to be the night of the claim.

“There is a method agents of sorcery use who are under Nafatar’s rule. Like they bind omegas in silver, the few alphas the humans keep undergo an enchantment of the mind. It makes them wild and mindless, a shell of whoever it is they used to be, and they are kept chained in the breeding dens. As of yet we have not found a way to undo this enchantment without killing the wolf. The ones who attacked you likely escaped during one of our liberation efforts.” 

Breeding dens. That was the place Baekhyun had mentioned during their short time together. That was where he had been kept for most of the years they’d been apart. Now that Jongin understood what breeding was, what mating was, the thought of such a place made him sick. Knowing what Sehun had been up against, what had injured him, what those lost alphas had been headed their way for… Jongin always liked the woods and the mountains. Knowing they were in such proximity to the alphas Sehun had described made their weeks together simply wandering along almost seem foolish. They should have _known_ better. They should have _planned_ better.

“And this offensive against the humans… how many from your army have come to aid us?” Jongin looked up from where Sehun now held his hand in his own when Han didn’t answer right away.

“Wolves prosper under Emperor Wu but within the borders of that territory, sorcery is banned and sorcerers heavily regulated and monitored as they pass through. My mate was suspected or practicing sorcery. For that, he was banished. It was never a question if I would follow him. Coming here, we acted alone but with each town we liberate, our numbers grow. We are now hundreds. If we win back Lake Argen, it is the hope that it will be our foothold for building a similarly prosperous but tolerant land here.” 

Han spoke proudly but beside him Yixing looked uncomfortable. Perhaps it’s because Han could only mean that up until recently enslaved omegas made up most of their ranks. No doubt this was different from the trained soldiers of their homeland. But surely Yixing must have seen by now, that the desire for freedom could make anyone into a good soldier or at the very least, a motivated killer. Is that not what war was? Taking the life of all who opposed you and stood in your path? Jongin would spend the rest of his life as a killer if the alternative was once again being bound by silver.

Sehun’s hand squeezed his own as the violent thought passed through his mind. Had the alpha felt that? Jongin could feel himself starting to sweat but at the same time he felt cold, the sounds of the forest becoming sharper in his ears, drilling into his mind as another headache began to grow.

“And what of Jongin? Yixing, you said to me that you were working on a different remedy, one that will treat the silver poisoning. Will this group of yours have the missing supplies?”

Yixing first looked over to Han, a wordless conversation taking place between them. Jongin fought to keep his expression calm when another wave of odd chills ran through his body causing him to sag against Sehun further. It is then that Yixing’s eyes briefly met his own before switching course to Sehun to address him.

“Several remedies have been attempted and I have recreated those. Some dull certain symptoms of the disease like dizziness or nausea however the only known cure, one of legend that was last attempted early in the war of your people, is the water of Lake Argen where we are headed. It is sacred and can cure such magic-induced ailments like silver poisoning. It is also our hope that it can rid alphas of their enchantment of the mind. Because we have not had access to this lake in decades, the cases of silver poisoning that have been discovered have all ended in death as it will be for your omega if you do not come with us.” 

Jongin blinked rapidly a few times to concentrate on Yixing’s words. _Lake Argen._ That must be it. The remedy Brother had alluded to but dismissed because…

“Is it not too far?” Jongin spoke up wearily, throat feeling just as dry as it had earlier in the day. “I was… I heard rumors about a cure but was told it was too far, that I wouldn’t be able to make it.” 

Both Yixing and Han turned to look at him almost curiously. It reminded him of the times the humans that stayed at Evergreen Inn said words slowly for him hoping he might repeat after them… or the humans that peered at him through the bars of his cages… the humans…

“On your own it would be too far,” Han said. “Had we not intercepted you, there is also a high chance you would have caught up to a human battalion further ahead in these mountains. We were dispatched on our own supply and reconnaissance mission after the initial raids to help measure the Nafatarian response. We take this path to reach the former sibling order of sorcerers which has a connection to our stronghold in the Forest of Casia. Another month’s journey for you we can accomplish in the two days it will take us to reach it. From there it will be down to the success of our attack breaking through the blockade to gain access to the lake. Others suffer from your same affliction although as of yet are not in as immediate danger.” 

Han’s voice sounded louder than it had been before and the fire between them seemed to burn even brighter and hotter.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean by connection?” Sehun asked. 

“The ways of the sorcerers are complex from their magic to the way they organize. We are allied with the Order of Ignis. They are one of few who were not corrupted and destroyed by the darkness that overtook this land many years ago. Their home is where we are headed. Through enchantment there exists a passage that can move us the great distance between as easy as one might step through a shallow stream,” Han explained. “With the aid of sorcerers, the path will be a safe one. They are expecting us.”

Jongin could tell that Sehun was convinced on the plan, the warmth within him filling with hope. But while the alpha and what seemed to be the leading beta continued speaking about details, about traveling with an omega who was in poor health, Yixing looked almost blankly at him or maybe _through_ him for several long minutes. 

“Omega Jongin,” Yixing addressed him then, the softness of his voice far more noticeable in contrast with Han’s rigid militaristic cadence. “Your alpha told me before that you had been enslaved in Palos. If that is correct, do you know an omega by the name of Baekhyun or Junmyeon?”

Breath escaped him. Sehun also stopped speaking and then all the wolves were looking at Jongin as he trembled now visibly.

What was this coldness? What was happening to him? 

“They… they’re alive? Both of them?”

“Junmyeon first made contact with a member of our collective years ago. It was only after their planned rebellion tragically failed that we managed to get him out. Being able to speak to him directly instead of through disjointed messages allowed us to truly understand how the slave market was structured in Palos from its very depths. He was key to the siege that liberated omegas like Baekhyun who said he had lost you in the confusion of the fire. Junmyeon seemed to believe you long dead, but with his attention caught by Baekhyun the matter naturally made its way to my ears. I was instructed to keep watch for someone of your name and description in my travels.”

Jongin now gripped Sehun’s hand so tightly in return that it must be causing the alpha pain. This was all too good to be true, too convenient, Yixing’s observing eyes too probing for Jongin not to see it, that something was not right with all of this. 

Baekhyun? Junmyeon? Of all the omega boys who had been in that room when Jongin first came to Palos, it must be that Junmyeon was the only one of those faces who could still be alive today. And of all people, in the hellscape that Han called liberation, Baekhyun had met him, spoken to him, had seen the look on the older omega’s face when he realized that the Jongin that Baekhyun was looking for could very well be the Jongin he’d spent that short time with a lifetime ago. 

It shouldn’t be possible. 

Miracles only came from God and demons.

Heechul had been the same. Heechul had come out of nowhere offering Jongin everything he wanted, telling him lies. And here it was again: a cure, medicine, found friends, and a quick path to all of it. A whole civilization that even Sehun, for all his father traveled, had never heard of. A civilization that only existed by the words of two betas who appeared out of nowhere when both Sehun and himself were at their most vulnerable. 

“Lies… lies…” he mumbled. And Sehun must’ve felt it, his collapsing composure as the dark forest seemed to close in around them. “LIAR!” he screamed now with all his strength, trying to claw his way out of Sehun’s hold. “YOU WILL NOT TAKE US!” 

But then the fire before him grew and deepend until it was the pit of the valley camp, filled with charred remains as fresh ones burned. He looked down and once again there was silver around his wrists, melted together. Smoke filled his lungs as the fire burned, there was screaming all around him. It was Palos. It was the pit. Walls of fire. Everywhere. And he knew the faces of those who burned. He knew all of them.

Jongin choked on the smoke until his eyes filled with tears, his heart beating so fast it felt as if it were tearing itself apart. He couldn’t move, the flames overtook everything, until after an eternity they began to clear. The fire began fizzling out to the corners of his vision until it was just the darkness behind his eyelids. He could feel how his legs were folded against cool soil as arms held him securely and his cheek was pressed against someone who could only be his kindred. But the shaking. He was cold and couldn’t stop shaking. He could breathe again though and did so deeply, taking in Sehun’s scent until he could feel the warmth of their bond again.

“Jongin… can you hear me now? Can you hear my voice?” Sehun asked softly into his ear.

Jongin opened his eyes slowly and beyond Sehun’s shoulder he could see a dark campsite. He could smell smoke but there was no fire lit. They were alone. 

Alone? Were they always alone? Was it always just the two of them, rulers of their own world? 

“What… what happened to me?” he asked.

“You’re not well,” Sehun said. “That’s all. It’s going to be ok soon. It will.”

Sehun said that the betas had set up a smaller camp just a short distance away to give them privacy. 

_What betas?_

Yixing and Han, from a faraway place, as far as land could go, who saved both Sehun’s life and his own. And that made him remember certain things but he couldn’t remember the waking nightmare Sehun said he had right in front of all of them.

“You were crying out about the fire so we put it out,” Sehun said. “You called my name but you couldn’t hear me. I couldn’t get through to you. So I just held you.” 

Jongin didn’t remember. But his body did. Everything hurt, his body heavy, his head splitting open, his throat was scratched dry. Sehun must have noticed the confusion and upset on his face because he simply told him not to worry about it. 

“You’re not well,” he repeated again. “But it’s going to be ok. Drink this for now. It will make you feel better.”

Sehun offered him a cup. It was tea but it wasn’t Sehun’s tea. It smelled different. It tasted different too. It was lukewarm but his throat was so dry, he drank until it was gone. Sehun carried him back to the tent, the warmth of their bond taking on a sad feeling. Why was Sehun sad?

“I love you,” Jongin said drowsily, hoping to make him feel better. “I’m so happy with you, Sehunnie. We deserve to be happy. Don’t we?”

“We do.”

“And our pups will be happy too. Won’t they?”

Sehun did not respond, only tucked him in more under the furs. 

“I love you,” he heard his mate eventually say, and with that he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

***

To be mated was to be part of each other, to feel what the other could feel, for one wolf to always be able to sense the presence or distance of the other. So even when Jongin felt like he was floating, like he was weightless as the trees passed by in a blur, he could still feel Sehun’s sadness. But it was hazy, just like the colors of nature blurring past his eyes. 

He couldn’t quite recall where he was or where they were going. He only knew that somewhere out there Sehun was sad but filled with love for him. He could hear Sehun’s words whenever the world stopped moving and could feel the alpha holding him. 

It was night again when things started to become clear. There were the stars again. The pattern of the breeze told him that they were not beneath the cover of trees tonight. He saw Sehun too, then, and that made his growing unease dissipate again as Sehun urged him to drink. 

And before he knew it he was flying again, the colors of daylight blurring by. He giggled as his body was jostled, confused by the strangeness of the person he was pressed against as Cinnamon went faster than ever before.

Strangeness. He thought about that for a long time.

Strangeness… stranger… 

But the more he tried to think, the more the colors started swirling faster and faster. He felt his throat constricting until something warm poured from his mouth all over his hands and dripping from his chin. 

That wasn’t good. He didn’t feel good. The world stopped moving. It was darker now too. Sunset. Someone was tugging at his clothes but it wasn’t the stranger. 

“Sehun?” he asked, blushing. “Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me,” Sehun’s voice said and Jongin reached out, sighing when his fingers tangled in the alpha’s hair. “Don’t worry. I’m just cleaning you up. How do you feel?” 

The blurriness of the world cleared up a little, as did Sehun’s face like before it was under water but now it wasn’t. 

“I was good but… I’m confused.”

“Confused about what?” Jongin tried to think.

“I think I… I think I had to tell you somethin’. Somethin’ important. Real bad.” 

Jongin’s whole body felt weak but he liked it anyway when Sehun took one of his legs in this hand and started to soothe the muscles there. His body did ache, now that he thought about it. And the setting sun was still bright enough that it irritated his eyes. And his gut felt twisted. But not painful. He wasn’t in pain. That was nice.

“Do you trust me, Jongin?” Sehun asked, pulling him from his thoughts. 

“Of course I do. I trusted you before you trusted yourself. I remember that.”

He didn’t know why or how the memory came to him so clearly, the memory of when Sehun had snuck off by himself to cry. It was the day Sehun confirmed what Brother had said to him, that a wolf had followed a boy named Taemin into the marshlands and that the wolf had a soul that matched his own.

“Then you know I’ll do whatever it takes to not lose you.” Jongin shrugged.

“Yes… but I’m not goin’ anywhere. I’ll always be with you,” Jongin said, once again feeling a sadness seep through their bond. “Our story is written in the stars. It’ll be just like in my dream. God knows. God can see us, even if you don’t believe it.” Sehun sat beside him and took his hand, fiddling with his fingers like he usually fiddled with grass. 

“Do you see the moon up there? You can see it, right?” Sehun asked. Jongin looked up and even through the trees he could see the brightness of the moon, already visible even though the sun hadn’t entirely gone away yet. He nodded. “The moon spirits watch out for people like us. It keeps us alive and healthy and binds us together whether that be as mates or as pack members or as parent and child. And you should trust in it more, get in touch with it just like how you can feel your wolf inside of you when before you couldn’t. You should be wary of what you learned while you were with the humans.”

Jongin let his head rest against his mate, feeling increasingly cold and uncomfortable but Sehun seemed to notice right away, wrapping his shoulders with warm fur. He tried to process Sehun’s words but kept losing his train of thought, head hurting the more he tried to think. And he thought his vision was going funny again until Sehun seemed to notice it too: small balls of light weaving between the trees, getting closer to them.

Sehun held him steady, eyebrows furrowed, and Jongin tucked his knees into his chest as the flurrying things came up until one landed right by his toes still only appearing like a tiny ball of condensed light.

“I was told this might happen,” Sehun whispered to him, breath tickling his ear. “They’re called fairies. We are near a place strong with magic and they are drawn to it. They won’t hurt us but they choose who they reveal themselves to. I think it’s a good sign that they chose to reveal themselves to us. Look, Jongin, that one likes you.”

The fairy lifted from the ground by his toes and landed on his knee instead. Jongin gasped at its touch. It tickled like a feather. And then it happened.

He remembered.

“It’s time.”

Jongin had gone rigid next to Sehun when Han spoke from behind them, his head spinning with all that had happened. He turned to see a large rock formation covered with vines obscuring a cave.

“No,” he whispered when Sehun helped him to his feet, his legs still not quite obeying him. “No Sehun. There’s somethin’ not right about this. I can feel it! I can feel-”

“It’s ok, Jongin. Please don’t be afraid. Please?” Sehun let him lean against a tree when he managed to dig his heels into the earth enough to cause some resistance. “These people have everything we need. We’re going to be in the Forest of Casia soon. Didn’t you want to go there? Didn’t you want to find Baekhyun?”

_Baekhyun._

_Junmyeon._

_Miracles._

“We can find him without them…”

“We can’t! _I_ can’t. I can’t keep you alive by myself. I don’t know what to do. I’m not good enough. All I know is that I can’t lose you. I can’t. _I won’t_.” Jongin heard Sehun’s words as clearly as he felt them, that sadness unravelling into fear and frustration and desperation. But Sehun must feel him too. He must feel the betrayal. “You’re being paranoid. Yixing thinks it might be related to what happened to you in the marshlands. Han says it could also be because of what happened to you in Palos over all those years, that he’s seen people relive old battles years after they happened. What went wrong with your heat put your body under so much stress… you’re just not well. But if we follow them, you can get better help. We can find your friend, get to Lake Argen, then go home where it can just be the two of us for the rest of our lives if that’s what you want. I never wanted to hurt you… but I’m not going to let you die.”

Jongin looked beyond Sehun to where Han and now Yixing stood waiting for them with the horses. The healer who made a two day journey pass by as disjointed wisps of daylight and darkness. Two days when either him or his mate could have hurt them badly but didn’t.

Maybe Sehun was right.

“I’m so scared. I don’t know what’s happenin’ to me. I’m sorry,” he said as Sehun wiped away his tears. He let Sehun guide him forward, holding him steady as they joined the two betas.

Beyond the vines was not just a cave, but a stone doorway that opened up into a large cavern with stone archways the likes of which Jongin had never seen before. It was filled with cobwebs illuminated by what must be at least a hundred fairies. It was riddled with skeletons and destruction, broken glass and splintered wood.

“When dark magic consumes one sorcerer,” Yixing explained, his soft voice echoing. “It can spread to their entire clan. A madness. That is what became of them. This is what became of many of them a long time ago.”

They took a tight and narrow path, one that was making Cinnamon audibly disgruntled, that went downwards until it opened up into a smaller cavern filled with ankle deep water. On the other side was an archway that was similar to the cave entrance up above, the rock here natural instead of sculpted, a dark cave opening in the center of it also obscured partially by thick vines. On either side were two cloaked figures who held staffs that burned in their hands. 

“We bring two allies to the cause,” Han announced to them. “Alpha Sehun and Omega Jongin.” 

“Bring the omega before us first,” the voice of a woman said. 

Supporting him, Jongin could feel Sehun hesitate until Yixing urged him forward. Together they went and both cloaked figures met them.

“He is sick. He can’t stand on his own,” Sehun explained.

The woman let down her hood and Jongin saw that she was young and beautiful. 

“Yixing, is this he?” she asked.

“This is he,” Yixing said from behind them. The woman reached out her hand to him.

“I am Joohyun, sorceress of the Order of Ignis. Take my hand and you will not fall.”

“I can guide him,” Sehun spoke up. “We want to stay together.” Joohyun adjusted her gaze to fall on Sehun.

“Only one may pass through at a time.”

Joohyun stood waiting until Jongin, against all his instincts, took her hand, her skin softer than anything he’d ever felt. She motioned him towards the darkness and for those few steps he could walk. And like passing through a curtain into another room, he stepped from the darkness into a small chamber hot with torchlight thick with the scent he could only associate with alphas. Six people surrounded him. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees into the shallow water.

“Omega Jongin,” a voice announced. “You are wanted for the murder of Yura, member of the Order or Ignis and the use of dark magic.”

_Miracles._

_Sehun._

Multiple hands grabbed him and he started screaming when his wrists were taken and locked together behind him, the feeling of chains sliding through the water and against his skin.

“NO… NO! LET GO OF ME!” he cried, but the restraints only settled more tightly before another pair of hands pulled the necklace with Brother’s stone over his head and away from him. “SEHUN!” he wailed as loudly as he could over and over again but the warmth of their bond within him felt distant like the furthest star in the night sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello beautiful readers!!!!! I'm so sorry I left you waiting for this update. I tried to get it out as fast as possible but grad school and my new part time job kind of destroyed my life schedule. So hopefully some of you are still around to read and hopefully enjoy whatever mess of words I just published ended up being. I must say I'm not all that confident about how this opening to the final act turned out but I didn't want to delay it any longer. Hopefully everything made enough sense!!!!!! And if not, just let me know in the comments and I can explain/edit it to make it clearer.
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	19. ACT V: KINGDOM - CHAPTER II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

It had been a full moon rising beyond the trees sitting with Sehun under the watch of the fairies. Jongin hadn’t even noticed it through the thick haze of his mind at the time, yet he could feel it now in his soul, a longing that called out to his wolf. But his wolf was too weak to respond to it, his bones shaking as if an afterthought, but not shifting. 

The place where they kept him had no light, the damp walls carrying a dull but foul odor, one he knew was decay. He could smell his own blood too from where his skin was cut and scratched. He had used up all of his strength pounding on the bars and solid walls that sealed him in but his heart and mind were still violently swirling as if caught in a winter storm. 

It was the cuffs, the things binding his wrists and ankles together, that kept the panic rolling through him.  _ Off. _ He needed to get them  _ off. _ One moment he could swear the darkness was being filled up with the fiery smoke of the valley pit. The next it would be the cold breeze that was a constant in the valley’s winters, the sound of footsteps behind him as he worked. Endless days. Endless nights. No hope. He was a Wild Beast. An abomination in the eyes of God. Fire! Fire everywhere! It was his turn! His turn to burn!

“No,” he whispered, but it was not smoke that filled his lungs. Jongin braced himself anyway for the feeling of flesh melting off bone but it never came. The heat was intense but it never touched him. It was all in his mind.

_ Not humans,  _ he thought to himself.  _ These aren't humans, they're… magic users… alphas… not humans… not humans… Sehun… Sehun…  _

"Sehun…" Now it was cold. Uncomfortably cold. His shakes returned, as did his coughs.

He breathed in, then out, then in, spitting out the mess in his throat when he could. For hours this cycle repeated itself, each time coming back to the damp darkness more drained than he had before with Sehun’s name barely audible on his lips. He needed to find Sehun. He needed to know Sehun was alright. 

Eventually he was able to doze some. Eventually the moon's pull could no longer be felt. Was it daylight? Was that why the phantom heat seemed to be here to stay boiling beneath his skin even though his mind felt much clearer?

Jongin dared to open his eyes but was only met with the same darkness. Slowly he slid his way to the bars of the cage and propped himself up against it. They had put him in here, prodded at him with long, silver-tipped poles, the cage’s heavy latches closing before getting lowered deep into the ground like a bucket into a tight well. Now it felt more like a grave. It  _ was _ a grave. What else could describe the lingering stench? So the possibility was there that they had simply left him to die, that this darkness would be the last thing he would ever know.

Jongin adjusted and braced himself, his feet able to plant somewhat sturdily on the ground that the few inches of chain between his ankles allowed. Crouching over with a deep breath and a scream, he hurled his body up until his back collided with the bars above him. The metal squeaked but did not give. He repeated the action again and again just like he’d done when they first placed him in here until once again what little energy he’d been able to gain back was depleted. He smelled the fresh blood on the ripped skin of his back before he felt it trickling over his shoulder. 

Grave or not, he couldn’t die. Not like this. If he could only stand again, if he could only figure out a way to unlatch this cage and climb up to meet the sunlight. But he was too dizzy for that right now. Too hot. Too exhausted. The air seemed thinner. His heart was working double time and his hands were unsteady. 

He closed his eyes tightly again and held onto thoughts of Sehun. Where was he? Somewhere close. Sehun had to have come through that strange passageway by this point. He  _ had _ , Jongin realized with fleeting clarity. Sehun was… he was  _ distraught _ . 

Jongin whimpered at the faint but distinct feeling that trickled through their bond yet steeled himself as the moment passed by. Then, with renewed determination, he got to his knees and instead gripped the bars above him with his hands, using his whole body to shake or otherwise jostle something loose. If he could feel Sehun in that one flickering moment, had Sehun been able to feel him? Could he locate him now? The thought of Sehun stuck in a cage like this one only made him shake at the bars harder, screaming one more time before collapsing back to the cage floor, trying instead to think.

These strange and foreign wolves and sorcerers believed him to be a murderer and believed him to be dangerous. But they had Brother’s stone now. They had taken it from him. They would look into it and see Brother’s kindness. They would see that neither Sehun nor the beta wolves had come into any harm being in his proximity. They  _ must _ . And when they did, they would open this cage. And once they did, if they did not let him go… Jongin tested the short chain between his wrists. These bindings were not silver, just a thick and heavy metal. Crude. Burdensome. Breakable with the right common tools. And if used right, if timed right, could be turned into a weapon.

It had been all alpha wolves who had held him down before, their combined scents alone nearly immobilizing him. He had never met another alpha before besides Sehun and the thought of encountering them again made the plan brewing in his mind seem even more foolish. But if he could get this chain around just one of their necks and get ahold of even one of their silver weapons, he could demand that they take him to Sehun. If they could just be together, everything would be alright. 

The childish part of him told him to pray. But then he felt a certain amount of guilt in his chest for thinking even for a moment that praying was childish. It was not. God was watching even in the hours when the moon could not. He  _ would _ see Sehun again. And it would be God’s doing. And if he prayed… if he prayed even in a place like this… maybe… 

He flinched and squinted when there was suddenly movement and light flooded down from above. On instinct he made himself as small as he could for he could recognize the light as torchlight but the scent of the alphas from before did not accompany it. His heart beat faster the more the light lingered, his whole body tensing, head dropping to the floor of the cage at another surge of dizziness and fatigue. 

He heard muttering, distant voices, too distant to properly pick up. Eventually, Jongin felt the cage jerk from side to side before the entire thing began to lift, taking him higher and higher and higher until he could see the owner of the torch. It was a man. A tall man, cloaked the way the other sorcerers had been. Looking around, there were others. Two had operated the mechanism of chains and three others stood at a distance, all cloaked. Jongin tested the chain between his wrists again and closed his eyes until a few more moments of nausea passed. The entire time, the man directly in front of him had not spoken a word. The distant muttering from before continued though until he heard the man finally say over them, “He is not a threat. Not anymore.”

Jongin hesitantly looked at the man, the sorcerer’s face blank but eyes curious. Fearfully, Jongin gritted his teeth and kicked the bars in front of him just as the man’s hands were about to make contact with the metal. It paused his forward movement so he did it again, each time gritting his teeth more in anger than the last. He didn’t want these magic creatures touching him. He kicked harder and more frantically still until his right ankle cracked and flared up in pain. He cried out at the feeling, thrown off balance as another familiar chill ran through his otherwise overheated body. When he regained his bearings, the man’s face was right in front of his on the other side of the bars. 

“My name is Chanyeol,” the man said, “son and now heir of the Order of Ignis. You have been found guilty for the murder of my sister but not for the use or continued ailment of dark magic. As such, being her only next of kin, the choice falls to me to decide what will happen to you.” At first Jongin could only stare in shock, the almost velvety timber of the man’s voice disarming him. He needed to get away from this man, from these people. He wouldn’t let what Heechul did to him happen again to him or to Sehun.

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Jongin said through a clenched jaw, throat achingly sore. “I would never.” A sad expression overtook Chanyeol’s face. 

“Darkness can make us do things we would otherwise never think of. My sister came from the flames of Palos with what remained of her eyes hanging on her face. If it were not for Baekhyun, she would have perished in the flames. Do you remember those flames, Jongin?” 

Jongin managed to scoot as far away from Chanyeol as he could, heart skipping a beat at the mention of Baekhyun. Was what Yixing had said true? Was Baekhyun really here? Was he also being kept in a cage? Just the mention of flames triggered images in his mind, images of the alleyway, how hot it had been that night. He thought about staying quiet, but like this he was too vulnerable. His best option was to make this  _ Chanyeol _ understand. 

“My master…” he began to try to explain, “he was drunk even as Palos was burnin’. I… took up the axe. I struck him many times. He was tryin’ to hurt Baekhyun.”

“And what happened after that?”

With blood on his hands, Baekhyun had held him. He had spoken with such hope, had spoken like freedom was bearing down upon them instead of burning buildings. And Jongin knew there had been a woman. He’d recalled it on the riverbank with Heechul like a whisper from a dream. His last master had died, Jongin had killed him. But the woman had survived. Heechul told him so. Was even  _ that  _ a lie? Was the only truth Heechul ever told him was that he was dying?

“I… I followed the sorcerer’s song… for a second chance at life… Baekhyun couldn’t hear the song. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I was with Baekhyun but then I was runnin’ to the song. Her scent was in the blood. The blood on my fingers… with my dead master’s,” he finished quietly before his body jerked with deep and watery coughs. 

“And the darkness controlling your body traveled into hers with your actions like a terrible disease,” Chanyeol said solemnly. “I listened to her screams from the very cage you sit in now, deep in the ground. We had to contain it and even in that state, she also knew it must be contained. In her madness, she engulfed her own body with the flames of that darkness. I listened to her burn. I knew I had already lost her, but in that moment I lost her all over again.” Jongin watched Chanyeol’s eyes flicker with a distant anger before he let out a sigh.

And then Chanyeol stood. With a small wave of his hand, the cage opened up. Jongin stared at him but did not jerk away when it was a key that opened the shackles around his wrists and ankles, his eyes brimming with tears at the feeling of the metal falling away. But he quickly remembered the last time this had happened, on the riverbank with Heechul. Again he created as much distance as possible from Chanyeol, backing up into the cage as far as he could go once again. 

“What do you want from me?” he hissed, trying to not let hope fill him, bracing himself for whatever the next impact would be. 

“To heal you. As much as I can, anyway. You’re in worse shape than Yixing reported,” Chanyeol said, looking now a bit pensive. “Just as I have understood that you did not mean to hurt Yura, Baekhyun vouching for your character, I hope you will understand Yixing was just doing what was best for the collective we’ve built up here. He was following the strict protocol for traces of dark magic in other beings. From how feverish you are, I can tell Yixing’s opium tea is fully wearing off on you. The procedure he performed on you is also infected. I can smell it. The pain you feel now will only grow worse. Let me heal you.” In Chanyeol reaching out, Jongin folded himself up impossibly more, his now swelling ankle bending painfully.

“Where is Sehun?”

“In a holding cell after breaking the arm of one of our more irritating guards.” The smugness in Chanyeol’s voice was not missed. “He is young but will surely grow up to be a fine alpha someday. You chose well.” Jongin frowned.

“And have you put him in chains like you did to me? Buried him beneath the ground?”

“No. He is in a standard cell for his sake and ours. Baekhyun managed to get through to him, calm him down. He knows you have been declared guilty of murder by the Order. Whether or not Baekhyun has convinced him of my intentions for you, that I do not know. The sooner you get back to him the better. From there, the two of you are free to more comfortable accommodations. I do not call upon healing spells lightly. As with all magic, it is life energy, the act of healing theorized to be particularly draining. I know you are short on trust, but in your current situation you only have everything to gain.”

Chanyeol waited with his hand outstretched but when Jongin began eyeing the others in the room, Chanyeol dismissed them all with a small nod. Soon enough they were alone. 

This was his chance. 

Jongin cautiously used his legs to get into a squat, ignoring the way his ankle protested, his knees coming up to either side of his face. His core did hurt, his insides feeling twisted and rotten. But in one last act of desperation he sprung forward out of the cage, knocking Chanyeol to the stone floor. He turned his body, eyes set on the door the other sorcerers had left through, but only ran a few paces before he fell to the floor again, his vision blurring and ears ringing severely after his ankle buckled again.

“Jongin,” he heard Chanyeol say from above him, like talking to a wounded animal.

He didn’t let it stop him though. He frantically crawled forward over the stone just like the keepers of the valley house had made him crawl in his conditioning. His eyes rapidly brimmed with tears that fell out of control when Chanyeol stood in front of him.

“Please…” he begged, when even his arms could no longer support him properly. “Just let me see Sehun. Let me see him. Then you can do whatever you want with me. Just promise you’ll let him go. Please… please…” 

Jongin cried harder when he felt Chanyeol’s hands on him, propping him up against his chest and shushing him softly. His chest vibrated, the telltale sign of words being spoken, but he did not hear them, his mind swimming in panic. What he did feel was the man’s large hand resting on his stomach, the sensation of being dipped into a cool stream radiating from where his first heat had come from days before. It spread to the rest of his body, the uncomfortable heat simmering beneath his skin, that  _ fever _ , slowly ebbing away. Body bent in half against the floor, a featherlike touch to his damaged ankle soothed that too. He trembled beneath Chanyeol, his breathing clipped as his throat no longer felt sore, the pain caused by slamming his back repeatedly against the roof of the small cage also cooling as Chanyeol's hand moved to touch there.

“See? I’m not going to hurt you, Jongin.”

The way Chanyeol’s breath had fanned against the back of his ear conjured memories of being pressed against Chungho’s bed in Palos so on instinct he scrambled away again, wrapping his arms around himself, staring up at the sorcerer in confusion who held his hands up as if in surrender. Whatever he had done to him, it made Chanyeol’s breathing a bit labored. 

“The remnants of your womb have been cleared, the infection that came with it has been healed. That was the cause of your fever and other discomforts. I also helped along the bruising on your back and your ankle. It should help you move more easily. I brought a cane for you, over there,” Chanyeol said, gesturing with his head to an opposite corner. Jongin followed with his eyes to a sturdy walking stick, crafted to curve at the top for ease of grip. “The discomforts you still feel are symptoms of your advancing illness but can be managed for a time with the remedies Yixing made for you.”

Jongin still didn’t know what to say. His tears were still falling silently and he rubbed at his nose. With Chanyeol’s hands still raised, Jongin crawled most of the way over to the cane, only towards the end shakily getting to his feet where the wall could support him. The wood was curved so perfectly beneath his grip, it was as if made by a fine artisan. With one glance up, he saw that Chanyeol had also risen to his full height. 

“I could use this as a weapon against you,” Jongin said to the sorcerer. 

“I know. But there is no need for you to. You are safe here.”

Jongin looked away and took a few steps along the wall with the cane. In doing so, he noticed that the cuts on his wrists left by the cuffs had also healed slightly but not all the way. What remained only left a minor soreness but the sight and feeling of the impossible made him feel sick.

“What is this place?” he demanded. “Explain and I’ll choose then if I believe you.” If Chanyeol was frustrated, he did not let it show on his face. 

“This is an old safe haven for the Order of Ignis, a group of sorcerers. My mother was its leader. Before her, her mother. After her, my sister. Now, it falls to me. But I do not hold all the power. None of us did. It is a leader’s duty to listen and guide, not control.”

“I don’t care about the leadership of your people,” Jongin spat. “What _ is _ this place? Who were the alphas who attacked me? Who sent those betas to betray my mate and I? What control do your powers have over me?” Chanyeol stared at him somewhat taken aback, then took one step forward before freezing again at the way it made Jongin’s stance become more defensive.

“This is a dungeon, built a long time ago to combat the darkness that plagued our kind by the thousands. Now, this old fortress serves as the gathering point for freed omegas and the place from which we launch all military operations both to the human settlements of Palos and beyond and pushing forward the opposite direction to Lake Argen. The alphas who restrained you are some of the few alpha warriors we have, the few who evaded capture by the humans in territories far from here. Like I said before, Yixing and Han were simply following protocol. The account Baekhyun gave of you made you an unknown risk. We needed to understand what had happened to you. Yixing and Han gave their accounts of you and Baekhyun relayed Sehun’s testimony. We studied the cursed stone given to you but ultimately found its powers dormant. Because of our protocols, however, it cannot be returned to you at this time. After matters settle down, I will see to it that you are reunited with it as I have been told it is important to you. My healing powers grant me no control over your body or mind. Such powers that do are dark magic… like the man who imprisoned and hurt you before.” The more Chanyeol spoke, the more Jongin felt his defenses lowering, his exhaustion growing as his mind tried to keep up. He wasn’t familiar with some of the words Chanyeol was using.

“You claim to know Baekhyun. Tell me somethin’ about him,” he said as sturdily as his voice would allow.

“The two of you met on a wagon, weeks after he had been captured by slavers and his brother was murdered.” Perhaps noticing the change in his stance, Chanyeol took a few cautious steps towards him. “Jongin, please. You  _ are  _ safe here. You are with friends.”

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” he screamed, stopping Chanyeol in his advances once again. “Just show me. Show me the way to Sehun and I will follow you.”

***

The stone corridors of this new and unknown place reminded Jongin of the valley house. But soon, with each step, it was easier to see that this is where the similarities tapered off. The first thing Jongin noticed was the flavor of the air. There had been something about the valley, the vegetation perhaps, that in certain seasons would cause a discomfort in his nose and make his eyes water. But here, even from inside, Jongin could smell the forest beyond and it struck him as even more familiar than before he had stepped through that strange enchanted passageway. It was like if he walked just around the bend he would see the creek winding down to Evergreen Inn. But he put such thoughts out of his mind. Even if he had spent all of those years inside the fence, surely a structure like this couldn’t have gone unnoticed and unmentioned by Master and all of the lodgers. 

Once out of the eerie dungeon, the stone walls were no longer plain either. Instead of barred and shuttered windows like in the valley house, they passed windows that looked like fragments of a rainbow. 

“It’s called stained glass,” Chanyeol said when he turned back to catch Jongin staring. “My ancestors valued its beauty.” 

Instead of the floor being tracked with blood, dirt, and hay, it was clean as various omegas freely wandered through it, standing tall. Unlike the valley house where Jongin remembers everyone either resolutely ignoring him or staring at him like he’d gone mad, these omegas smiled at him, even the few with missing limbs or other injuries. He wasn’t quite sure yet how that made him feel. But soon enough the steps they took were going downwards again, the pretty windows replaced by wall-mounted torches. What looked to be a healthy omega guard greeted Chanyeol.

“He may be released,” was all the sorcerer said and the guard took a quick glance at Jongin, again with a smile, before scurrying off. 

Jongin’s heart tightened in his chest as the two of them were left alone again but not out of fear. The feeling of Sehun was strong through their bond now, filled with anticipation. He had felt it ever since Chanyeol had taken him from the dungeon and through the rest of the place that belonged to this…  _ Order of Ignis _ . And Jongin ended up scenting Sehun before seeing him, his mate rushing into view looking frantic and disheveled until their eyes met. 

The next thing Jongin knew, paired with the pure happiness and relief that surged through their bond, his cane was clattering to the floor as Sehun embraced him. His mate lifted him off his feet then gently lowered both of their bodies until they were both crying in each other’s arms. Then came Sehun’s kisses, his hands wandering to confirm that Jongin was unharmed. They eventually parted enough for Jongin to see with his own eyes that Sehun was also unharmed until Sehun was kissing him again deeper than he ever had before only parting again to bury his face into the exposed claim mark. 

“I’m sorry, Jongin. I should have listened. I should have… I…”

Jongin ran his fingers through Sehun’s hair gently to calm him, then looked up at the blushing but delighted face of Baekhyun. It hadn’t been a lie. Baekhyun really  _ was _ here. He was here and he was alright too. 

“That doesn’t matter now. God sees us,” Jongin whispered into Sehun’s ear. 

“God sees us,” Sehun repeated, holding him tighter. “And the moon brought us together.” Sehun held his face in his hands then and kissed him lightly again before turning to face Chanyeol, the sorcerer Jongin had momentarily forgotten was even there. “Thank you for sparing him and for believing us.”

“More death won’t solve anything,” Chanyeol said. “But there are other duties I must attend to now. Baekhyun will make sure you two get settled.” Jongin didn’t watch the man walk away, he just clung to Sehun’s clothes. The corridor around them was beginning to feel uncomfortably narrow, the torchlight hotter than it should be.

“What happens next?” he heard Sehun ask Baekhyun. 

“I can get you two a cot in the sleeping quarters. Or we can go to the kitchens. There should still be some soup from earlier. There’s also the infirmary but right now there’s not much they can do to make Jongin more comfortable than he is,” Baekhyun said. 

“I think some sleep might be the best,” Sehun said. “Jongin, how does that sound?” 

Jongin shivered in Sehun’s hold and shook his head.

“May we go outside please? I… I need to get outside.”

Sehun covered Jongin’s hands with his own until Jongin let go of his shirt, their fingers intertwining instead. 

“Aren’t you tired?”

“I need to see the sun. Bein’ in here makes me feel… awful.”

“That’s alright,” Baekhyun jumped in. “It should be safe around the stables. Your horse is being kept there. Other than that, we’re not really supposed to spend time outside. Some particulars about the protective spell that covers this place. Does that sound good, Jongin?”

It had been two moons since the last time the two of them had briefly seen each other but already Baekhyun looked much different than how Jongin remembered him. The garb of the Madame’s house had been replaced by loose but simple pants and a tunic, mismatching shades of forest-like green. His honey scent was somehow more potent in this dungeon corridor, adding to the omega’s natural warmth distinct from the torches around them. Maybe it was because of Sehun that the omega still maintained his subtle distance, hands folded neatly in front of him. Or maybe it was because Jongin was unconsciously shrinking away from everything and everyone that wasn’t Sehun and Sehun’s protective scent was daunting to any omega he wasn’t mated to. Baekhyun’s face was kind though and he had seemingly become acquainted with Sehun just like Jongin hoped he would. If he could just get out of this place, he could get rid of the shadow of doubt that told him he was still trapped in the darkness. 

The walk to the stables was short, the corridor leading them away from where most of the omegas seemed to spend their time. It helped ease Jongin’s nerves that there didn’t seem to be any sorcerers milling around similarly. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought sorcerers had nothing to do with this place.

It was a narrow but heavy door that opened up to an even narrower dirt path outside that curved between the trees. Soon Jogin paused in his steps, pulling Sehun to a halt as well. It was easy to see the sky here, the clouds today fluffy rather than wispy. He turned to look back at the building they’d left and from this angle it did look to be about the same size as the valley house, perhaps a bit smaller if you didn’t count the dungeons below.

“We should hurry,” Baekhyun said ahead of them. “If we linger here, we might get asked questions.” The warning from Baekhyun did not seem to make Sehun concerned at all, or at least that is what Jongin gleaned from the gentleness flowing through their bond likely as a response to his own growing anxiety. It’s what stopped him from asking Baekhyun who might the people be who would feel compelled to question them for simply standing outside or who might be somewhere out of sight watching them. 

The stables weren’t much further ahead but it was with seeing them that Jongin could also now see a large stone wall rising up forming a perimeter that no doubt surrounded everything he’d seen thus far. It made him remember Chanyeol’s wording of this place, a  _ fortress _ , and immediately his palms became clammy as Sehun helped him sit down on a nearby log. Jongin clung to his sleeve when the alpha attempted to stand.

“What’s wrong?” Sehun asked, coming down to him again. 

“The wall,” Jongin whispered, the anxiety in his gut threatening to overflow with each passing second. 

“It’s for all our safety,” Baekhyun said from above them. “Not to keep us in. Not to keep us trapped. This is a war, Jongin. If the human battalions discover this place, these walls could save your life.”

It was an explanation. A good one. But the sureness in Baekhyun’s voice unnerved him. Of all people, the omega who gave him his name should recognize a cage when he saw one. A good explanation did not mean their situation was somehow different. All of the omegas were within these walls where they could be watched and questioned by the masters for simply lingering outside a doorway. What if magic had been used on Baekhyun? On Sehun? What if what he was seeing wasn’t real?

“Do you want to go back inside?” his mate asked but Jongin could feel much more traveling through their bond. Sehun was tired,  _ so tired _ , but hopeful. This place behind these walls made him hopeful. This was the place they had set off to find all those weeks ago, this was the place where they both hoped Jongin could get the care he needed. But Sehun was also afraid. Ever since he’d met the alpha, some part of him always told Jongin that he was afraid. Chanyeol had said that Sehun broke someone’s arm when they were separated. Out of all those alphas, still not entirely recovered from his previous fight, to get in that much damage he must have been so incredibly filled with fear and rage. But for Jongin, everything had happened so fast and right now he just wanted to get away, to gather up the parts of him that had unravelled, to make sense of everything. 

“I want…” he began and he could tell from Sehun’s eyes that he knew what he was going to say and that Sehun didn’t want him to say it. “We need…” Jongin whispered in correction, “to leave. We can get Cinnamon and walk away. If we must, we can sneak to Lake Argen ourselves just long enough to get what we need.” Jongin focused on Sehun’s touch as he spoke for it was that and their bond that was keeping him from having a complete outburst. It felt real. This all felt real. But that just made him all the more desperate to run. 

“That’s not the plan,” Sehun said slowly and clearly as if to pass that understanding on to both Jongin and Baekhyun. 

“The plan changed the moment those alphas put their hands on me,” Jongin said, focusing on Sehun’s face and not the wall in the distance. “We’ve made it this far on our own. We can get the rest of the way on our own too.” Baekhyun took a step forward to interrupt them, his growing frustration clear.

“Lake Argen has been surrounded for decades. You can’t simply walk to its shores. This is a major military operation we’re talking about,” Baekhyun said. “If it were only a matter of stealth, we would have a cure for you and others right here right now.” Jongin turned to look up at the other omega. 

“I would rather try than be stuck in another cage with another master.”

“You will die, Jongin! They will kill you! You’ve never even seen battle!”

“Yeah?” Jongin challenged, gripping Sehun who helped him to his feet so he could look his friend straight on. “I’ve seen a lot of things, Baekhyun. And I’m half dead already.”

“SIT DOWN!” Baekhyun’s booming voice seemed to ruffle the trees, even Sehun turning rigid beside him. It was together with Sehun that he obeyed after a few tense moments, sat back down on the log and Baekhyun continued. “I know it has been a long five years for you. You  _ know  _ I know. And every omega you saw back there? They all know too. Some of them have known for a lot longer than both of us combined. If you want to compare horrors then we can do that for many moons to come. But we’re so close,  _ so close _ to having a place we can all call our own. A society, a  _ kingdom _ … wolves living freely and in peace just like any human, not locked up and hiding behind any wall or within any cage. All of that vanishes the second even one of us starts thinking only for ourselves and our own interests. If you go to Lake Argen now, you will be captured and tortured until they get the information they want. They still have sorcerers on their side, ones who can put you back in silver bindings. They will use their dark magic to take Sehun’s mind, turning him into a horrible creature. Do you understand why you must stay here?” 

Sehun kept rubbing his back as Baekhyun spoke and Jongin’s eyes easily brimmed with tears, the exhaustion of the day catching up with him again. He nodded quickly and stiffly and heard Baekhyun sigh above him before the omega also took a seat on the log, their hands lacing together. 

“The fact that you’re here at all, to me, is a miracle,” Baekhyun said. “With a mate, no less. There’s no other omega here who has a mate. Many of them have spent their entire lives in slave camps. And I have my own person to protect too now. Someone to bring into this world as a free wolf.” Baekhyun pulled Jongin’s hand to the warm skin beneath his loose green tunic until Jongin feel the slightly rounded and firm surface there. 

“You’re… pregnant?” he asked quietly and Baekhyun nodded.

“Towards the end in Palos, the humans were seeking omegas with a certain appearance to quickly move to the Madame’s house. They chose me, either not knowing or not caring that the monster they had caged us with had recently taken me. All those births in the past… were horrible. They strap you down so you can hardly move and they take the pups so quickly you can barely catch a glimpse of them, can never touch them. I keep wondering how many of them burned when Palos fell. But this birth will be different even if it’s my last. I can see so clearly what the future could be like, I dream about it every night. But I know I can’t rush things. I know our situation here right now is a fragile and very complicated one and that many will die before the end. With you here I am even more hopeful. With you here, it feels even more like this journey hasn’t all been for nothing.”

Jongin closed his eyes, taking in the feeling of Sehun and Baekhyun on either side of him as he listened to the distant call of a bird and the shuffling of horses in the stables. He listened in the daylit darkness behind his eyelids as the tremors in his body ceased and the ugly terrors within him unraveled bit by bit until they became something teetering just on the right side of bearable. Together here with Baekhyun, perhaps this was the next chapter of his and Sehun’s story, one step closer to a life back in the open grove.

Right?

He didn’t respond to the alpha when Sehun repeated that he wasn’t well and needed to rest. He didn’t resist when the two wolves carried the remedies that had been with Cinnamon from the stables and gently guided him back up the narrow dirt path. Soon enough the heavy door closed behind him and Jongin’s hand clenched the empty space against his chest where Brother’s stone should have been. 

***

Jongin stared at the broth long gone cold in the bowl in his hands. He raised it to his lips and took two sips before giving up again, his stomach immediately churning at the intrusion. It had been a week since he’d sat beneath the sunlight by the stables, a week since he’d seen the outer walls of what the other omegas had grown used to calling “the fort.” 

But ever since coming in from the stables, surrendering to the circumstances he found himself in, Jongin had spent most of his time where he was now laying in a small cot in a large room of small cots. The towering stained glass windows that had made the room usually glow were as dreary as the rainfall that poured outside today so the torches on the wall he typically got relief from during normal waking hours were still burning now in the early afternoon. He did his best to not look at them. Sehun said it was best for his mental state to keep his mind off of such things… that if the mind could heal, the body would surely follow. It would be a lie to say that his mate’s words didn’t make him feel a little bitter. But still, he followed the advice. Anything that could keep him tethered to the here and now.

Instead he resolutely focused on the rain, the sound of it beating against the stone drowning out his more troubled thoughts, drowning out everything except the thin sheen of sweat that had grown to be constant on his skin even though he found himself so cold the past few days that the spare blanket wrapped around his shoulders had become a permanent addition to his attire. He coughed into it now, feeling his stomach churn and soon enough a young omega girl named Yerim quickly arrived at his bedside with a wet cloth already in hand. 

“Worse today?” she asked in a voice that by now he’d come to expect would always sound worried. Yerim had come from a slave encampment in a town called Harabin and unlike the other omegas who were presumed to be around her young age of ten, Yerim spent all of her time in the sleeping quarters helping those who were largely bedridden get through each day. Today her hair was in a familiar two braids as was Jongin’s. Sehun carefully did his each morning, a sort of ritual that soothed the both of them. By now enough other omegas, mostly the children, had learned of the practice that it and other experimental styles were becoming a common sight. 

Yerim pushed her long braids behind her and pressed the wet cloth to his mouth where Jongin grabbed a hold of it gratefully. He gripped the sheets below him with his free hand as his heaving turned more violent, other heads in the room likely turning, until he finally caught his breath inhaling deeply against the cool fabric. 

“Not… not too much worse,” he said but one look at Yerim’s face and Jongin knew she could figure out he was lying. Their eyes traveled to the now lowered cloth at the same time and even though his vision was spinning a bit at the moment, he could make out the specs of blood that had appeared on the white threads. 

“You need to use Yixing’s medicine,” she said almost as if scolding him. “Yixing can fix people… not like the cloaked ones can but… I’ve seen it. He is a true healer.” She took the bowl of broth off of his lap and reached for the jar of thick but drinkable substance Sehun had made sure to prepare for him that morning. It tasted horrible. Smelled even worse. But it did tend to help alleviate his nausea and generally helped him feel a bit more settled down for a short amount of time and didn’t conjure up the same headaches or confusion that the opium remedies tended to do when wearing off. 

“Thank you, Yerim. I’ll drink it.” She blushed but lingered a few moments longer by his bedside just so she could see him do it. He offered her a weak smile.

“Try not to be so sad, ok?” she said. “Sehun would be sad if… if he saw how you get when he’s not here. Sehun cares about you a lot. That’s what alphas do. They care about their omegas. The older omegas told me so.” 

Jongin laid back when he could feel his body start to tremble again, Yerim having gone off to continue patrolling through the rows of cots with her makeshift bag tucked under her arm. In the middle of the day like it was now, most of the younger omegas who liked to run around and play were elsewhere, some of the older ones keeping an eye on them or keeping the dining area organized and running efficiently. Baekhyun had told him he spent most of his days teaching the oldest omegas about pack life as he had understood it as a young boy before everything had been taken from him. Then there were the most physically able omegas who spent their days learning to fight alongside the small number of betas and alphas, alongside wolves like Sehun. 

So in the middle of the day like this, the large room of small cots was mostly occupied by omegas who were too sick or injured to wander about much on their own but not sick or injured enough that they would get moved to the smaller infirmary elsewhere in the fort. Of the few wolves Jongin had seen get moved there, none had returned. So even as Jongin spent more time each additional day sleeping than he did awake and able to stomach less before it felt like he was in danger of coughing it all up again, he knew that Sehun would always come back just after sundown with dinner bundled in his hands for the both of them. At that time Jongin would do his best to hide his quickly deteriorating condition from his mate, their two cots pressed together like their bodies, all of Sehun’s essence blanketing him in a way nothing else could make up for. But each morning Sehun would leave again, Jongin’s increasingly quiet wolf distressed about it each time. After what had happened as a result of his heat, they had promised each other that they’d never be separated again. Evidently, such promises were hard to keep in a place like this.

Each night they’d repeat to each other that it was all for the best yet it didn’t help Jongin feel any less like he was still alone in that grave for the living, screaming where no one could hear him. And just last night, Sehun had brought to him some truth to the rumors that had been floating around. Someday soon, Sehun and most others who were able to fight would begin their path to the battle for Lake Argen. The omegas who had nothing to do with all the military training spoke about it like it would be a great victory but the way Sehun held him told a different story. So that made Jongin feel less guilty for having already started to make his own moves to ensure that Sehun would not face such a battle alone. He had already put a solution in motion, had done so the fourth morning he’d spent in his cot. 

The sorcerers had continuously managed to make themselves scarce, or that’s what it seemed like in the few forays he’d made from the sleeping quarters out into the adjacent bathing area and back. Yet each morning after Sehun left when Jongin would shuffle over to Baekhyun’s bed for company, Jongin could catch traces of Chanyeol’s scent on him. He knew his friend was close to the sorcerer and he knew that Chanyeol had power and influence. Chanyeol would know more things than most people in the fort and it was possible that Baekhyun would become privy to such things. So on his fourth morning in the fort, he had asked Baekhyun about the whereabouts of Junmyeon and had learned that this was another thing Yixing had been truthful about. Junmyeon was here and just like in the valley house, the beautiful omega had status and a position in the fort, a position that made it hard even for Baekhyun to have an audience with him in days so close to battle. But Jongin had managed to tell Baekhyun the one thing that he was sure would catch his and Junmyeon’s attention, ensuring that his friend would use to Chanyeol to get the message through: 

_ “Tell him that I buried his son.”  _

Was this cruelty? He asked himself that but ultimately came to the conclusion that it was not. Sehun was his mate. Their story was written in the stars, the two wolves with matching souls. What else could explain the ache of their separation? What else could make Jongin so determined to leave his cot and the few comforts he’d ever known in his life to travel to a place where he knew humans and their destruction was waiting? If he did not know fully on the day he had whispered those words to the young man who had given him his name, he now suspected with increasing surety that if he let Sehun leave without him, he might not live long enough to witness his mate’s return.

No. This was not cruelty. This was the exchange of information for a favor. 

Jongin had just laid down after stretching his legs and walking the length of the sleeping quarters when an unusual hush cut through the low hum of conversation between all of the resting omegas. Whenever his message did get through, he hadn’t exactly expected for Junmyeon to make an appearance in this area of the fort since he neither slept nor worked here. But when he finished shifting around in his cot to face the unexpected visitor, it made sense why the omegas had gone quiet. It was not Junmyeon or another omega or even another wolf. It was a sorcerer. It was Chanyeol. 

“I wasn’t expectin’ this visit,” Jongin said when Chanyeol reached him. 

Chanyeol was not wearing his cloak but was still wrapped up in black fabrics that were much different than any clothes Jongin had ever seen. Buttons formed a line up his torso as part of some type of vest that hugged his frame. It gave way to a wider, almost poofy tunic that also became snug around his wrists, his pants tucked into high boots. It was no wonder that Baekhyun found this man handsome even if he was not of their kind. 

“Neither was I,” Chanyeol said. “But according to Baekhyun, you’re up to something.” Despite the nature of their last meeting, Chanyeol sat relaxed on the edge of Sehun’s cot, the level nature of his eye contact making Jongin momentarily uneasy. 

“What could I possibly be up to when I’m like this?” Jongin asked lightly, looking away and off towards the stained glass.

“Junmyeon has requested your presence. I’ve taken it upon myself to escort you since it’s in an area neither you nor Baekhyun are familiar with.” 

Of course. That would explain his presence. But Chanyeol being here also brought unexpected opportunity, Jongin’s unpleasant thoughts bubbling to the surface existing under the gaze of a man that still managed to frighten him. 

“Good. But I’d like to speak with you first,” he began carefully, arms moving to wrap around himself. “Baekhyun was tellin’ me more about… pregnancy… and how it works. Before when you healed me, you used the word ‘womb.’ You used a few words I didn’t know but… I remember that one. ‘Womb.’” 

“Yes. The remnants of your womb,” Chanyeol said, his warm tone somehow making Jongin feel smaller than he was. 

“That’s where the pups grow. That’s where they’re growin’ inside Baekhyun.”

“Yes, it is.”

“I can feel a sadness comin’ from Sehun whenever I talk about Baekhyun’s pups. He won’t look at me either when I talk about what our pups might be like in the future. One pup for each season. That’s what I want him to give me.” Jongin moved his hands down to his flat stomach, the area where Baekhyun had life inside of him just like he had told him was possible in passing when they were trapped in that wagon all those years ago. “Does Sehun know I don’t have the piece of me anymore where pups can grow?” he asked and Chanyeol did not answer right away. Jongin was coming to understand that everyone was cautious when it came to telling him things he didn’t want to hear. 

“I imagine Yixing would’ve told him about the possibility before working on you. It was a life or death decision. Sehun wouldn’t have refused you care. I don’t think you would have either. There’s much more to the life of an omega, the life of a mated pair, than producing offspring.”

Truthfully, ever since his heat if he was not in pain or fear then he only felt numb. Relegated to the far corner of the sleeping quarters so Sehun’s alpha presence would not disturb the other omegas as much, it was like being shut off from the rest of the world as his body worked less and less day after day. He knew it was silly to be so saddened by the confirmation of what should’ve been obvious. He was back to being as skinny as he was as a slave and he knew it would only get worse from here on out. The dream he’d had under Heechul’s influence was only that. A dream. But it was the happiest dream he’d ever had before it turned into a nightmare and somewhere along the way he’d burned it into his mind as truth, as destiny even some in that dream had been dead for a long time. 

“Tell me one more thing,” he said after gaining some composure back. “What’s it like to die from this poison? What will happen to me if we can’t take Lake Argen in time?” 

Chanyeol folded his arms as if deep in thought. If he was in a rush to escort Jongin and get on with his day, he did not show it. Maybe that was simply part of his personality, always appearing focused on the moment at hand. It made him seem almost… wise. 

“Your wolf will die first. You’ll know when it happens. You can’t survive long without your wolf. Each case on record has its differences but… ten minutes, more or less, and you will also die. The death of your wolf will destroy you from the inside.” Again, Chanyeol spoke with that same deep warmth.

“Does it hurt?” Jongin asked.

“It is a bloody affair. A bit like shifting… except it’s all wrong.” Chanyeol stood up from where he had previously been perched and circled around to kneel in front of Jongin, once again looking up into his eyes, the volume of his voice lowered. “The water from the lake… it’s not a guarantee. Once the illness has passed a certain stage, likely close to the death of the wolf, it could ease the pain or extend your life by a few hours. A day at most. You have been battling this for a very long time and the path to the lake will be very difficult. It’s impossible to say how long the battle will last or if we will be victorious. If you are going to ask Junmyeon what I suspect, it is important that you know this.” Jongin wrapped his blanket more properly around his body.

“I understand. Thank you, Chanyeol. I’m ready to see Junmyeon now.”

Chanyeol helped him up and gave him his cane. The other omegas watched as they passed. This little trip he was taking, no matter the outcome, would be impossible to keep from Sehun.

All the way down the main corridor, Jongin was determined to walk with his own strength but as they began more twists and turns up more and more steps, Jongin was forced to also lean on the sorcerer for support. Soon they were walking past cloaked figures, the scents of other alphas in the air. A few of both were exiting the chamber that Chanyeol brought him to a stop in front of, one of the alpha’s gazes lingering on him for an uncomfortably long moment. Chanyeol gestured to the door once the small procession of people had finished emerging from it. 

“I’ll wait here to walk you back,” he said. 

Jongin let go of his arm after he caught his breath and looked around. There wasn’t any stained glass in his particular hallway. Just normal windows. Jongin took the chance to go over to one and looked down upon the scene of omegas fully transformed and wrestling in the mud. It was small, but within him he felt the smallest spark of pride that was instantly snuffed out by the dread of all that was to come. He had lingered long enough. 

Junmyeon, in his memories, was ethereal. Amidst the dirt and darkness that had been the valley house, his skin had been of the purest white, his hair long and silky, his body very thin but not starved as others were. It could’ve been because of his smaller frame even though it was easy to tell that he was older than most of them. His voice had been kind too, as was his touch. Jongin remembered that kindness, even though his desperate attempts to understand all that was happening to him at the time made those early days hard to think back on. It was the humans demanding him to tell them of Junmyeon’s whereabouts years later as he was beaten within an inch of his life that he probably remembered more accurately.

Now Junmyeon’s hair was cut short, barely touching his ears. The loose robe he wore made no attempt to hide the burns that now marred his skin, consuming his left arm and shoulder and seemingly extending down his back. The robe was of a black material but of a much different cut than the sorcerers, hoodless and likely designed to not irritate his flesh. He wore sandals, ones Jongin could probably craft himself. In the eyes he looked much older. In the way he stood and walked around the large table towards him, above all else Junmyeon seemed to be a man plagued by a determined loneliness. 

“So it’s true. You came back from a place where no one returns,” Junmyeon said as if learning an interesting fact from a book. “Please. Sit.”

Jongin walked forward and pulled out one of the heavy wooden chairs. Junmyeon chose instead to lean directly on the table itself. 

“I’ve been to a lot of places,” Jongin said, looking around the dark room. He could see smoke trailing from where the torches were on the wall. It was as if Junmyeon had put them out right before he walked in. It must’ve been more than just his intended message that had reached the elder. 

“I speak of the death camps. In the fields of Palos. I never saw them myself, but the slavers often told of them. Going there was what I feared most… until Taeyong came back into my life. Then I feared losing him the most.” Junmyeon moved his arms to the side as if to show his body, his robe slipping a bit to reveal more of his marred chest. “Now look at me.”

Even though Junmyeon was an omega, there had always been something captivating about him. Now there was something just as equally haunting. Jongin’s stomach dropped when the elder’s hand came to a rest on top of his head, moving a few loose strands out of his face. 

“They were holdin’ each other at the end,” Jongin said, choosing to get to the point of why Junmyeon had summoned him. “In the courtyard where they were shot. Kibum was holdin’ Taeyong. I… I closed their eyes…” 

“Was it a quick death?” Junmyeon asked, his voice suddenly cracking. However when Jongin looked up at him, there was no sign of tears. 

“I imagine it was. Lots of bodies. Lots of bullets. Everyone was torn through. I didn’t see it happen. When I arrived back from the camps, the first thing I was made to do was to clean it all up. It was a proper massacre. The mud had turned red.” 

Junmyeon took his time in silence, standing up to pace around the large table again and to the door and back. His hand moved to a pipe he perhaps intended to smoke before recalling the lack of flames in the room. He instead fiddled with it between his fingers. 

“A long time ago, long before I met you, I thought I had swayed certain guards to our cause… Kibum’s and mine. Kibum was always the mastermind. We grew up together but he was the one who convinced me freedom was possible. He’s the one who taught me what freedom was and that someday it would be ours. I’ll always remember the way his eyes lit up when he learned of boats or ships or the sea from new captures. Together we wondered how such things could exist.

“It was a guard who put me in a network of contacts with a distant sorcerer although I didn’t know it was a sorcerer at the time. I had no idea what sorcery or magic even was. I was barely a teenager at the time but this guard was… enraptured by me. In exchange for letting him touch me, I learned to write and I could get messages out. Finally, Kibum’s dream was coming true. In exchange for having other guards turn a blind eye, I offered myself to them as well. Years later by the time you came along, we were convinced it was only a matter of time. We were strengthening ourselves, spreading the word. We knew the uprising would be a bloody affair but it was the only way. 

“I couldn’t always control who would be picked to go out to the camps, but I would often know who was next and that whoever left never came back. I had gotten word that one of our best was on the list. We couldn’t lose him. Kibum convinced me that in the uprising you would surely die anyway, as weak and naive and poisoned as you were. So I told them to take you. I told the guards to take you. And just like that, you were taken. 

“No matter how much I told Taeyong you weren’t coming back, he kept looking for your friend, Baekhyun. Imagine my surprise when it was me who found him instead. We spent three years in the breeding dens together. I never had the heart to tell him what became of you. Not long after you were taken, the guard I had been using was executed for treason. With him went some of our best, including the one I traded for you. That’s when I was sent to the dens. That’s the last time I saw Taeyong and Kibum. It was a sorcerer who broke me out. My eyes couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was Kibum’s work that saved me. He always said that if even one of us could escape, the rest would soon follow. And it seems they did. Just not soon enough for him.”

Junmyeon put his pipe down and let his hands rest on his knees instead, head turning to Jongin to see his reaction.

“At least now I know what became of them. Thanks to you, of course. A strange concoction of the universe,” Junmyeon continued. “I would say that I am sorry for the suffering I no doubt caused you… but if I had to make the same choice again, I would, for I want nothing more than freedom for our kind. There can be no freedom without sacrifice. Nonetheless, I assume you would not go through all the trouble to catch my attention if you did not want something in return. So what is it? What can I do for you, Jongin?”

Jongin had long suspected that there had been some amount of betrayal on Junmyeon’s end either towards him directly or more likely the other omegas of the valley house in general. Still, knowing the details of how things worked out the way they did was unsettling as was the tone with which Junmyeon recounted his actions. Jongin thought back to the way Junmyeon had first approached him that night after he had been ripped from Baekhyun’s arms. He remembered how gently Junmyeon had begun to hint at the reality of his situation and how Kibum had always looked upon him with an unknowable sort of disdain. For all his life was crumbling around him at the time, Junmyeon and Taeyong had been the only comfort for those brief days, the last comfort he would know for years aside from a dying kiss from the nameless boy. He quickly pulled his mind from that place, however, when he could feel himself losing his grip on where he was in the here and now. A deep breath. A pause. 

“My mate, Sehun, is to leave with a group of warriors to take Lake Argen. You will let me travel with him. If you do this, I will have no quarrel with you,” he said. Junmyeon considered him carefully.

“Here is the safest place you can be. And-” Jongin slammed his fist down on the table in frustration, a brief breath of rage piercing through him.

“I don’t have time to sit around waitin’ you all to finish your war games,” he spat. “After what you did to me. After what Yixing took from me. After how the people who run this place imprisoned me… I will not be separated from my mate. He is all I have left.” Jongin scowled even more when Junmyeon suddenly laughed before returning to his tired state, not bothered at all that he had been cut off.

“It seems the years have done a lot to the both of us,” he said. “If that is what you truly wish, consider it done.”

“And Baekhyun too… if he wishes,” Jongin pressed further. At that, Junmyeon was not amused. 

“Baekhyun is pregnant.” Jongin shrugged.

“As I said. If he wishes.” Junmyeon adjusted his robe, pulling it up properly over his chest and shoulders. 

“I will allow it,” he said a few moments later. “He would follow you anyway… I suspect. Your time together may have been short, but in him you have a true friend.”

When Junmyeon moved to stand, so did Jongin, and they walked together towards the door. If this were another time under different circumstances, Jongin wondered how much of Junmyeon’s cold exterior would melt away back to resemble something like the young man he thought he had known… or at the very least, the young man who loved and watched out for Taeyong. Baekhyun would not speak so highly of someone without reason. With those thoughts, by the time they did reach the door, Jongin found any residual anger he felt towards Junmyeon had hollowed and that is what prompted him to speak one more time. 

“If we meet again, I have much to tell you about all I have done and seen. I’d like to think I’m not so naive anymore.”

And there it was, a twinkle of something different in Junmyeon’s eyes. Something hopeful but unsaid as he opened the door to reveal a waiting Chanyeol. 

“Be well, Jongin,” he said.

“Be well, Junmyeon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this chapter was very very very long after me not updating for a very very very long time but all I can say is that grad school is a lot of work and I WAS NOT prepared eheh... So hopefully after all this time, any of my remaining readers who even bothered to click on this did not find this chapter very very very boring. We pretty much talked to everyone. Avengers... assemble? Or not. We'll see. This is what I get for doing this four chapters per act format. These last few I guess are just gonna be obnoxiously long. @___@ 
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


	20. ACT V: KINGDOM - CHAPTER III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GENERAL CONTENT WARNING: This story is not for sensitive audiences.

“The water is still a bit hot. We should wait for a little while.”

Sehun’s eyes were very gentle for an alpha, a light brown that softened for all the other omegas to see as they’d warmed up to him one by one. Sehun had spoken of the other alphas he’d been training with. All together, they were only nine. Jongin asked if they were like the alphas in his old pack and Sehun had said no. But now partially disrobed as he was, Jongin could see all the traces of bruises and claw marks on his skin. He wondered how much of it came from simple sparring. 

“I’m alright with waitin’. Sit by me?”

Maybe Sehun was _too_ gentle and _too_ kind. He had seen the alpha’s face turn red in embarrassment many more times than his eyes had turned red in aggression. Even now his face took on a rosy hue, the exertion from hauling buckets of steamy water across the wide washroom, a laborious process. The idea of a hot bath was foreign for the both of them, but in light of their coming journey, Yixing had apparently suggested it to Sehun on one of his strolls out onto the training grounds. 

Jongin breathed easy as Sehun sat down next to him on the small bench and they leaned into each other in a familiar way. It was early, a few hours before dawn, so the sometimes rowdy washroom was completely empty. Neither of them could sleep and Jongin was pretty sure their own individual worries had inadvertently kept the other awake. Their bond felt like a rope pulled tight against an approaching storm, anxiety pulsing with every synchronized heartbeat.

They hadn’t talked about it yet, about him going to meet privately with Junmyeon or about the deal he had struck. Jongin wondered if they ever would. That day he had felt the concern of the other omegas when Sehun came running in before his usual training concluded, covered in the elements brought on by the pouring rain. Perhaps the other omegas thought Sehun would lash out in anger thinking Jongin had defied him in some way but they had all worried for nothing.

When Sehun came to him, he had not lashed out. Instead, Jongin felt Sehun’s fear and sense of helplessness at odds with the relief that they wouldn’t be separated so soon after all… along with a distant confusion Jongin had yet to work out even now. But they’d just held each other, similar to how they were currently, humming their never ending song until Jongin inevitably fell asleep again, his burst of nervous energy gone. Only two days had passed since then, and much sooner than either of them expected, they were told they’d be moving out at first light. 

No matter how much the two of them had spoken about what was waiting for them here in the Forest of Casia, Sehun likely pushed all thoughts away of Jongin being anywhere near harm. But even though Jongin’s strength was only a shadow of what it had been when they’d left the grove, he still felt the need to do whatever was necessary to make this long nightmare come to an end. For him, that was only possible with the lake’s water, not locked behind a wall waiting to die. He refused to go to Heaven trapped in such a way.

“Have I told you today that I love you?” Sehun asked, far less playfully than he usually did when they had a quiet moment together. It was that strain again, that confusion. Something was bothering his mate but it was obscured in their bond. Sehun had much better control over their expanding connection than he did.

“You never fail to.”

“Have I told you that I’m scared?”

“Hmm…” Jongin began first in place of words. “Love can be scary.” And it was true. They had both loved and lost. It wasn’t the same type of love they had for each other but it was love all the same. It hurt to lose so it was scary to have. 

When their eyes met, Jongin didn’t stop Sehun from kissing him. The act still made his insides float and swirl in a pleasant way even though he’d taken one of Yixing’s remedies just before coming to the washroom that made his body a bit numb, his mind a little sluggish.

Sehun hadn’t been disgusted when Jongin told him what Chanyeol had confirmed, how he could never carry pups like Baekhyun and probably all the other omegas could. Sehun didn’t even flinch away now when Jongin had to turn away from their embrace as he was suddenly hit with another sting of harsh coughs and wheezes. Instead, he just closed the blankets around Jongin’s body tighter and held an extra cloth that was already heavily spotted with blood to his mouth. 

The attentive care didn’t make Jongin feel any less frustrated though, when he caught his breath again. He _hated_ this. He hated how unfair his entire life felt and how his body could hardly do what he wanted it to do anymore. He tried to keep Baekhyun’s words close to him though, the reminder that he wasn’t the only one and that with any luck, he would be amongst the _last_ ones to endure what the humans had put them through. It was hardly a consolation, but it kept him from completely succumbing to his own misery, from falling into that dark pit away from Sehun’s light. There were still many things he did not understand about their bond, but it had grown stronger so quickly from their initial mating. Sehun was everywhere in every part of him. It was as wonderful as it was frightening. 

Before long, Sehun tested the water again and deemed it comfortable enough. Jongin shivered as Sehun helped him out of his blanketed cocoon but when he dipped one foot into the warm water, he gasped at how nice it felt. When finally fully seated, Sehun knelt beside the basin watching him intently.

“How does it feel?” the young alpha asked.

Jongin let his arms float beneath the surface, the near constant subtle tremor of his fingers quieting in the face of the warmth that engulfed him.

“Like… like bein’ wrapped in sunlight,” he said. Sehun made sure Jongin’s hair didn’t get wet, keeping it so it was hanging over the ledge. While the water was warm now, a wet head would likely make Jongin uncomfortable later.

“Good. When I was preparing it, it felt like I was getting ready to turn you into stew.” At that, Jongin laughed in a way that was rare for him, loose-limbed and open.

“That’s silly. But I get what you mean. I sort of feel like stew.” Jongin brought the warm water to run over his face, washing away what felt like layers upon layers of sickness.

Submerged up to his neck, Jongin sighed at the sensation of Sehun’s hands reaching out to massage his shoulders, his mate’s breath fanning slightly over his cheek. But after several minutes passed, it was as if between one breath and the next, the sharpness of Sehun’s scent shifted, transfixing Jongin to his touch even more as his hand moved to caress his chest and stroke down his arms.

Jongin’s senses felt foggy the longer Sehun touched him, an even more intense warmth, one he assumed he’d never feel again, radiating from between his legs and it wasn’t long until one of Sehun’s hands reached there too. Unlike the first time he had felt this way, there was no pain that came crashing down upon him. It wasn’t a painful inferno that felt like silver cutting through him. There was only the warmth of the water, Sehun’s enchanting scent, and the pleasure that rolled from the omega to the alpha through their bond and back in an ever repeating loop.

“Does that… does this feel good, Jongin?” Sehun’s voice trembled when he spoke and Jongin did not know what to do, nor what to say with the way this pleasure began to spread through him so completely. It was more than the way he was being touched. It was more than the weight of Sehun’s head on his shoulder. He didn’t know what it was, exactly, but Sehun’s presence was the only thing that assured him he wasn’t in danger of sinking beneath the water’s surface all the way into the earth, vanishing forever. That is what such a pleasure felt like. Melting into the unknown. “Jongin?” Sehun asked again.

“It does,” he whispered, and Sehun kissed the side of his face, his fingers now stroking over and shallowly inside of him faster. “Se… Sehun…” He felt the need to hold onto something, and his fingers chose the sides of the basin. It was all simultaneously too much and not enough. The entire washroom stripped away until it was just Sehun’s eyes reflecting everything Jongin felt within him.

Staring at Sehun like this, it was like all the beauty of the sky and the mountains was shining from his spirit, pulling Jongin in by the strings of his soul until his hands moved to cling around Sehun’s back as the alpha leaned further over into the basin, the slow scrape of fangs teasing against his neck as warm water sloshed out onto the floor. The tension of their bond burned until… 

Jongin didn’t remember falling asleep but when he came to, he was wrapped back up in his blankets again and dry, supported by Sehun as they sat by the washroom’s rarely used fireplace in the dressing area. Sehun knowingly positioned him so that he would not have to stare directly into the flames but Jongin still felt comfortably warm down to his bones, his mind still swimming in comfort. In his whole life, he had never felt so at peace. Sehun, the alpha who was too gentle and too kind, had done all of this for him. What made it all better was that just like him, Sehun felt more peaceful as well, like he wasn’t as close to dangerously coming apart at the seams even if his mind still felt like it was trying to solve an impossible problem. Jongin mentally sunk further into his own comfort in the hope that he could tug Sehun down with him, away from all that was troubling him, because once again Jongin could feel how the nature of their bond had expanded. It worked for a little bit, the act of trying to intentionally influence their bond still much beyond Jongin’s current abilities. 

“We’ll need to get going soon,” Sehun said quietly in his ear after a while as if waking up from a good dream. “But Baekhyun is getting Cinnamon ready. They’ll both be coming with us.” Sehun’s arms wrapped around him tighter when Jongin tried feebly to get closer than he already was. He didn’t respond to the information Sehun had given him. Staying silent like this, he thought, might make this moment in time last a bit longer than what they had. But Sehun caught his attention with his next words. 

“Is Junmyeon different now than how you knew him before?” 

_Before._ In that new and strange and terrifying place. With Taeyong, Kibum, and so many others. _Before._

“Back in Palos he was… very calm and careful,” Jongin said, looking for the right words. The image of Junmyeon in that dark room with loose clothes and damaged skin had stuck with him in the days that followed. “Now he seems to carry a greater burden.” 

The flames behind them crackled but Sehun once again used his scent as a sort of anchor. The two of them listened to the embers, lost in thought. 

“You asked me once if the alphas here reminded me of the alphas that were in my pack. They are not completely unlike them, even if there are some similarities. But Junmyeon seems to have something they do not, something I’ve never seen in any omega from before or now. My mother called it bloodlust,” Sehun said.

“What does that mean?” he asked, a thin lock of hair falling into his face. Sehun brushed it away.

“I’m afraid to say it. But Junmyeon, Chanyeol, and the other leaders… I’ve had the feeling that there are things we’re not being told. The reason we’re leaving this place so within a moment’s notice and the reason why Junmyeon is allowing you to stay with me… I fear what that reason is. We had scouts return yesterday. They were fewer than when they departed. My fear is that this place is not as safe as it was once thought. And… Jongin…” the boy continued. “Deep in my heart… I don’t want to fight,” he said, falling into a whisper. “I keep thinking about what happened with those rogue alphas near our camp. It feels like that was someone else, like it wasn’t me doing those things, killing. I only remember how afraid I was and that I was in love with you, and how I would do anything… _anything_ … but the bloodlust, I didn’t have it. Even then.” Jongin squeezed Sehun’s hands.

“You’re a good person. You are different from other alphas just as Junmyeon is different from other omegas. There’s nothin’ wrong with that. Understand?”

“Yes…” Sehun murmured. Jongin smiled.

“Even in the moonless night sky, there is the light of the stars. What I mean to say is, even if somethin’ goes wrong out there, we’ll find our way back to where we’re meant to be. So don’t give up on yourself. Don’t give up on our kind. I’m gonna pray now… for Junmyeon, for you, for everybody.” Slowly, Jongin separated from Sehun, rearranging himself so that he was on his knees, the creeping feeling of a familiar dizziness unfortunately already threatening to take hold. Sehun steadied him.

“Can you teach me how?” the young alpha asked. “I’ve watched you but I still feel like I don’t understand it.” Jongin linked their hands again.

“Of course. Across from me is good. Yes, like that.” With their hands still linked, Jongin took a moment to observe how they looked together, for the thousandth time so happy that Sehun had come into his life and had grown to love him so openly. 

“Dear God,” he began and Sehun repeated after him, albeit timidly. “This is Sehun’s first time speakin’ with you, but I know you know him just as you know all livin’ things. Han Jinwoo, the man who raised me, taught me to not depend on you for worldly matters, that only when there was no hope should I turn to you so boldly. But this life, you see, hope can be hard to come by. And I… shut you out, some of those years. Forgot your love. Forgot _all_ love. And even though I am hopeful now and am overflowin’ with love, I don’t want this prayer to be a waste. Jinwoo never said what happens to let you know you’ve used up all your prayers but… I’m choosin’ to believe bein’ brought to Heaven is my final blessin’, my final prayer. Anyway, Sehun here is troubled. What are your troubles, Sehun?” Across from him, Sehun averted his eyes.

“It’s… complicated,” the alpha began. Jongin urged him on with a small nudge. “Junmyeon, our… friend. But more like our commander, he shows signs of bloodlust. It is this that claimed the spirit and eventual lives of all the alphas in my birth pack. I’m afraid for him, in this battle, because he not only controls his own fate but that of mine, my mate’s… everyone’s. And if we lose this, it’s over. It was all for nothing.” Sehun’s voice cracked as he spoke and he seemed embarrassed about it. Jongin grinned at him, proud that Sehun had been to verbalize that much.

“Give Junmyeon compassion, Mighty God,” Jongin said then. “Protect him from darkness. Our Junmyeon has had a hard life and he is lonely. He is lost. Please see his hard work. Please see the love that flows between my mate and I and between Baekhyun and his unborn pups. Please see the companionship between all the wolves who fight with us and the sorcerers who have sheltered us. See us. _Please_ … see us. And-” 

“I don’t want Jongin to hurt anymore!” Sehun cried out suddenly as if also shocking himself, his eyes shut tight. “This… this vile poison, rid his body of it! If anyone is really up there, don’t _just_ see us. _Do_ something!” Sehun gasped against the thick silence, tears eventually falling as he continued to grip Jongin’s hands.

“Amen,” Jongin said quietly, feeling the frustration pouring through their bond and permeating the air. “Sehun?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I mess it up? I didn’t mean to offend…”

Sehun was very gentle for an alpha but he was growing into a fine one, in Jongin’s opinion. Sehun couldn’t see it in himself yet. It might take a long time, long after the battles that awaited them. Nevertheless, Jongin couldn’t wait to see it, couldn’t wait to love him through all of it no matter how much it might hurt sometimes.

“No. You did nothin’ wrong.” 

Wordlessly, Jongin fitted the two of them back together and in doing so, Sehun’s frustration waned along with the dancing fire.

***

In Jongin’s gut was a sinking feeling he tried to push aside, but no matter what he had reassured Sehun in their time together that night, his mate’s words of worry were hard to shake now that dawn had finally broken and Sehun was nowhere in sight. 

Flanked by two alphas, Junmyeon had stood in the doorway to the omega sleeping quarters then walked down each aisle dividing the omegas up into three separate groups. Two of them, Jongin’s group included, had been taken out to the yard. The third, made up of every single bedridden omega Jongin had spent these past days surrounded by, was left behind. Junmyeon’s eyes hadn’t lingered on him when he’d reached his cot, but older omega’s once loose clothing revealing his burns was replaced, the black he now wore covering everything and strung firm to him at his forearms and along his shins. Unlike when he’d met him a few days ago, Junmyeon seemed to be much more put together, less… at the mercy of an uncontrollable fate. 

It hadn’t just been the handful of alphas who had been preparing for battle daily. Most omegas in the fort had done so as well, their impressive numbers now trotting around with a calming surety that made the omegas Jongin was grouped with less frazzled from the forced partings they had all just witnessed. Across the yard, Jongin could see the young Yerim, stone faced. Her group of noncombatants was noticeably larger than theirs. 

Sehun had to leave him not long after returning from the washroom together. But before he’d left, he’d used a knife and sturdy twine to fashion the blankets Jongin depended on so much for warmth to hang on his body like regular clothes would with a hole in the middle for his head and the length of it draping over the front and back of him. The second larger blanket was fashioned into a cloak of sorts yet he could easily pull it tight around him. Aside from that, all Jongin had now was his cane, the one Chanyeol had given him. But even all that was much more than what he’d had when taken from his home as a young boy, when he’d been stripped of everything.

Jongin’s heart lifted when he spotted Baekhyun walking towards him, his friend quickly ducking to snuggle next to him against the stone wall. While Baekhyun’s duties kept them apart almost as much as he was from Sehun, Jongin had been witness to how Baekhyun’s spirits and energy were always kept high. The moment of anger that had slipped through the cracks out by the stables hadn’t returned. Baekhyun’s faith in what they were doing was comforting and did as much to help Jongin through this time of his life as Sehun. After all this time, the sense of responsibility Baekhyun seemed to hold for him was touching. 

“Cinnamon is all packed,” the older omega said. It hadn’t crossed Jongin’s mind until this moment, but now Baekhyun must be at least nineteen years old. It didn’t make him the oldest omega here but he was definitely further away from being the youngest. “We’ll be able to ride her together. Chanyeol taught me how. Sehun hasn’t got a thing to worry about!” 

“Will Sehun not be with us?” Jongin asked. 

“No. He’ll be behind us, actually, making sure no danger catches us by surprise. We’ll be in the middle of the pack with the rest of the omegas in our group.”

_Pack._ Baekhyun had used that word. Were they all a pack now? Is that how it worked?

Jongin took a look again at the people he’d been grouped with who didn’t have the marks of a soldier. Most seemed on the younger side, maybe twelve or thirteen, so not as young as Yerim and the other children but young enough that they hadn’t been in as many training sessions as the omegas more around his own age. One older girl he recognized as the omega who had given birth recently yet with her were no pups. In her eyes was a clear sense of determination. The rest, around fifteen total, were the omegas Jongin knew worked with distributing food and caring for others. In another section of the yard, Jongin had also seen Yixing taking stock of his supplies as if he too were getting ready for travel. If all of them were leaving, who was staying at the fort to care for the omegas that still remained and needed such care the most? 

Baekhyun’s stomach hadn’t gotten much bigger during Jongin’s time at the fort, but a subtle roundness was visible through his tunic, standing out only if you took note of how skinny the rest of his body was. Aside from him, there were no other pregnant omegas in their group. It was easy to see what the strings of Junmyeon’s influence had done in the way events were now unfolding.

“Do you know what’s happenin’ to everyone else who isn’t in our group?” Jongin asked. Baekhyun nodded once, stiffly.

“The ones still inside will stay here but from today onwards they will all be kept below ground, in the cellars, as a safety precaution. I oversaw the preparation of their food supply myself. As for the omegas across the yard… I don’t know, exactly, where they are headed. But I do know that it plays into the overall military strategy. Where we’re going, we’ll be piercing through the humans head on to reach Lake Argen. Once that is done, there will be more attacks, human soldiers probably sent from as far as the palace. Connected with our spiritual homeland, we will become stronger. This battle will be the first of many, but eventually we will win. We _must_ win.”

Jongin looked around. Indeed, the wolves gathered here were great in number and he knew not all of them were in sight right now. Others had already traveled beyond the fort to prepare for the arrival of the masses. Still, when Jongin pictured all the humans he’d seen in Palos, he was sure this army was not larger than that. Palos, he had been told, was very small compared to other human settlements called cities. 

An omega soldier came up to their group and instructed them to stand. Jongin had never seen the front gates of the fort. As they walked, he now saw they were much more grand than the gates of Evergreen Inn or the entryway to the valley house in Palos. It was a muggy morning but the sunrise still glinted off what looked to be giant metal buckles holding the gate shut. The same omega who had spoken to them before began a speech about safety, protocol, and purpose. She addressed them as strong and brave healers who would be vital for the front lines. She also spoke of the danger that awaited them in the forest and to trust both their wolves and the long daggers they were now being given to holster around their waists. When the omega reached the two of them, she looked like she wanted to say something more but did not. Jongin clung to Baekhyun tighter, even that slight added weight of a weapon to his middle now making him feel unsteady. He’d been standing for too long and the others looked back to stare at him in concern when Baekhyun helped him to sit on the ground, the omega soldier’s instructions continuing. 

Like Baekhyun had promised, Cinnamon looked as good to go as she ever did and Jongin was proud of himself when he was able to mount her with just a couple big pushes from his friend. By the time Baekhyun was situated in front of him, Jongin felt relieved to be able to lean forward and wrap his arms around him both for his own benefit and as if protecting what Baekhyun carried inside of him. It was a small gesture, but nonetheless made him feel like he had a purpose in this group, this… _pack_. 

The giant gate of the fort opened to the forest like the first passage of a grand story. What once might have been told as the heroic Royal Hunters setting out into the unknown to tame the Wild Beasts was now… well, Jongin supposed he wouldn’t know what for sure until the story’s conclusion. What he did know was that the reassurance he got from Baekhyun traveled through his bond with Sehun to strengthen his alpha who still felt lost, those nagging suspicions still creating a small storm of chaos within him. 

“Have you ever been on a journey like this before?” he asked Baekhyun, chin pressed against the older boy’s shoulder. Baekhyun inhaled deeply then exhaled. He held the reins in front of him a bit more firmly. 

“Never one with this many friends,” he said. 

At first Jongin was happy to gaze upon the trees and catch glimpses of the birds. But the comfort of the washroom quickly began to feel like it had all been a dream as the chills started to grip him again, the leaves surrounding him blurring in and out of focus as his hands began to tremble. Sehun had managed to coax him to eat a few bites of fruit back before sunrise but by the time the sun was reaching its high point, Jongin coughed that up and anything else in a bloody mess on the ground. In addition to Baekhyun, two other omegas ran to assist him when it happened. Jongin managed to mumble Sehun’s name but they explained to him that Sehun couldn’t come to him now, that he had a duty to be on guard. That quickly brought him back to his senses and he tried to cut off some of his own distress from traveling through their bond, not knowing how effective his attempts were. 

He didn’t know that traveling again after being still these past several days would take such a toll on him. The constant movement of the horse prevented his body from shutting down for its frequent naps and the resulting exhaustion only brought on more pain and disorientation. In some ways it was like a slow torture pushing him closer and closer to the edge as paranoia began to set in. 

It was near dusk when news of reaching the camp reached his ears, his eyes screwed shut. He grabbed onto the shoulders of a taller omega who helped him down from Cinnamon and onto the waiting bedroll that Baekhyun had set out for him. Every movement of his joints hurt so getting him all the way tucked in was agonizing and provided little more warmth than what he already had from his blankets. It was like this that the stars above began to come into focus with Baekhyun settling in once again by his side.

“Here you go, Jongin. Drink up.”

The medicine was held to his lips but even when he swallowed it, the bitterness still felt stuck all over his mouth. The sound of people working, tools clanking all around him, was a bit overwhelming. Jongin couldn’t help his head from darting around. There were so many people here dispersed amongst the trees but in his current state he found it difficult to make out any of their faces. For a split second, Jongin considered asking about Sehun’s whereabouts but decided against it. There was probably lots of work to do setting up camp for so many newcomers. 

Where Baekhyun had situated the two of them was obviously very out of the way. Baekhyun had procured a lantern but there was no larger fire being lit. Jongin watched the light from the setting sun dim on Baekhyun’s face which looked a lot different now, pensive and tired, when they were alone like this and Baekhyun likely thought he wasn’t being watched. Baekhyun looked out over the camp and then off into the forest, his hands coming down to settle over where his children grew.

“When will they be born?” Jongin asked when another wave of chills passed, the medicine suppressing some of his more irrational thoughts. They were safe here. These were the people who fought beside them not against them, even if he couldn’t make out their faces. 

Baekhyun looked down at him as if not expecting him to still be awake. 

“Once the leaves have all fallen, Yixing says. I hope they will be healthy enough to survive the winter.”

Jongin tried to imagine it, a cozy hut shielding Baekhyun and his pups from the snow. He thought of the other alphas who traveled with them. Would one of them want to become Baekhyun’s mate? Were there any in their small numbers whose soul mirrored that of his friend? Would Baekhyun be lonely?

“I can always help with the pups. I’ve shifted once before. I could do it again and help keep them warm whenever you’re busy. Sehun says I’m pretty as a wolf.” Baekhyun chuckled.

“I don’t think a scenario exists where Sehun would think you _weren’t_ pretty.”

“Do any alphas here think you’re pretty too?” Unexpectedly, Baekhyun seemed to blush. “Oh?” Jongin urged on teasingly.

“It’s complicated. My parents would’ve been scandalized just by the thought of it. And really, it’s not appropriate to entertain such thoughts at a time like this. Don’t go blabbing to Sehun either. As mature wolves, it’s impolite to gossip.” At Jongin’s continued grin, Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “I’ll assume your medicine is setting in then, or else you’d be all scrunched up instead of looking at me like that. I’ll go find us some supper.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Just because you don’t feel like eating doesn’t mean your body doesn’t need food. If you’re really going to help me wrangle the first free pups to be born in this land in generations, I need you in perfect condition.” 

Jongin watched him go, thankful that the telltale numbness caused by his medicine was working. The moon now was directly above him and he could feel that Sehun had noticed it too. Maybe right now it was really the alpha’s comfort easing into him through their bond after such a challenging day. 

Baekhyun returned not too long later with half an apple and a small piece of bread, the effort to not look disappointed clear on his face.

“You don’t need to split it all in half again,” Jongin said quietly, having grown more drowsy than when Baekhyun had left him. “More than a bite or two will make me sick. You’re eatin’ for more than one.” Baekhyun hesitated, looking odd holding the dagger meant to be a weapon over the apple portion. “It’s ok,” he said again. “You must be hungry.”

Baekhyun forced out a chuckle to make up for an actual response looking conflicted as he cut off a small slice of the apple for him. Jongin nibbled on it a bit as Baekhyun absolutely devoured the small piece of bread first. He started more slowly on the apple but that too was soon gone just as Jongin managed to swallow a bit of his own. With effort, he also managed to complete his supper, Baekhyun urging him to wash it down with some water. 

“Are you comfortable like this?” Baekhyun asked after watching the activity going on around them for a few moments.

“I’ll be asleep soon,” he said, liking the way Baekhyun made sure all of his layers were tucked around him as tightly as possible on the hard ground. He noticed how his friend’s brows were creased with worry. “Can you tell me a story?”

“About what?”

“Your story. A story from before the wagon,” he said, referring to the lodgers who had been the catalyst for their meeting, for all those years they spent apart but still trapped in Palos. Once again, Baekhyun managed to put on a smile, his hand carding through Jongin’s hair as he laid down next to him.

“I actually kept being haunted by a memory today, riding with you once again. I thought of that first night in that horrible place when we were taken from each other. You were told to be rather docile. That’s why the slavers came for you first. But of me, they were told a different story by the men who took us. It was like a game to them, to try to break me. I can’t say how long the torture lasted but somehow even with my mind and body being put through so much, I went into heat.

“In my pack, an omega’s first heat was cause for celebration. We did not have much and we lived in constant fear of capture, but the potential for new life amongst us always called for a feast. I think, ultimately, knowing that I wasn’t going to get any of that… finally accepting deep in my heart what had become of my pack… seeing what the humans had done to the alpha I was brought to in the dens… all of that is what broke me for a time.” Baekhyun’s fingers stopped their soothing pattern then, the memory of that time distracting him, before he continued.

“But in my pack, I had been promised to an alpha since I was very young. Her name was Taeyeon. She intimidated me and the others would tease me whenever we’d be in the same space together.”

“I can’t imagine you bein’ intimidated by anyone,” Jongin said, a picture of Baekhyun’s world forming in his imagination.

“I was a very shy and small boy a long time ago. Taeyeon ignored all the teasing but she didn’t ignore me. I had a pet rock once and she was the only one who didn’t make fun of me for it. By the time I was eleven or twelve, I had started to warm up to the idea of us belonging to each other someday. My parents also played a big role in her life since her parents had been captured many years before. Baekbeom though,” he said with a genuine laugh, “he turned his nose up at the whole concept of mating. It was hilarious.”

Jongin listened to Baekhyun tell him the small stories of his childhood, the intertwining of innocence and constant danger that Baekhyun admitted made him look back on those years in a different light now that he had lived through the horrors his parents had spoken of. While all who featured in such lighthearted retellings had all gone to Heaven from Taeyeon, disappeared shortly after Baekhyun’s thirteenth birthday, to Baekbeom at the hands of the lodgers, Jongin absorbed these new tales in the hope that just the knowledge of the lives they had lived would help preserve the way of life that was still largely unknown to most omegas who lived today.

By the time Sehun came to them, tired and weary, he was met with two sleeping omegas at the very edge of the encampment who had found a temporary peace beneath the starry sky.

***

The mountains. Jongin often dreamed of them. It was home, after all. The plant life here was so different from the valley, the marshlands, and even the grove. Just like when he was a boy, in this dream he climbed the tallest tree at Evergreen Inn and from its thick branches it felt like he could reach out and touch the distant snowcaps. It was such a simple dream with him as the only character. It was a simple dream all but for the press of something familiar against his chest. 

Jongin reached for it in the quiet daylight of his subconscious. 

It was Brother’s stone.

And then the dream ended.

Jongin tried to breathe but everything felt… _hot_ . So uncomfortably _hot_ … and _heavy_ like his whole body was being pressed into the ground. It pushed on his chest. It was like something was wrong with the mountain air. It was hard to breathe.

He opened his eyes into a squint but immediately the light pounded in his head. He began trying to tug at his clothes, noticing that the blankets he’d had secured to him the night before had been removed yet the tunic that remind was still stifling. Everything, his skin, throat, eyes, and mouth, felt dry. 

“Calm down, Jongin! It’s ok. It’s ok…” 

Jongin whimpered at the sound of Baekhyun’s voice, each sharp and shallow breath he took prickling like needles down his throat and into his lungs. Baekhyun took a wet cloth and reached down to begin dabbing it over his forehead.

“Hu… hurts,” he rasped, trying to open his eyes again, his time making out the closeness of Baekhyun’s face to his own. 

“You started running a temperature this morning. It’s been getting worse. But you’re awake now, that’s the good thing. Sehun just went to go grab Yixing again.”

Worse than the days before, each movement he made felt like his joints were being grinded against rough rocks, slowly being chipped or shaved away and every muscle felt like it was being gradually constricted. That’s what made his chest feel so heavy and that is what made him stop trying to tug at his remaining clothes. Jongin tried to appreciate the feeling of Baekhyun spreading another cool cloth down his neck and his upper chest, the ringing in his ears high and steady, his heart working overtime.

He swallowed around nothing multiple times trying to get rid of the dry feeling. Baekhyun noticed and adjusted him, not stopping even when he groaned in pain, so that he was able to take a few sips of water. The relief from doing so barely lasted seconds before the dryness returned.

While Sehun was always present through their bond, Jongin was surprised he had not picked up on his scent even when the alpha joined the faces looking down at him. Jongin felt something inside of him curl uncomfortably also at the sight of Yixing. Although what felt like a betrayal had not resulted in Sehun being harmed and although it was truly because of Yixing that he was even still alive, Jongin could not shake how the beta wolf made him feel. He was from a place far too different from Jongin and his beta nature was unnerving, his whole being unreadable. 

Just like before during his heat, Yixing looked over him giving away no information with his facial expressions letting Baekhyun hand him the wet cloths he had been using. Jongin tried not to panic watching the alpha, beta, and omega surrounding him, tried not to panic now that he noticed that it wasn’t just Sehun’s scent he missed, but everyones. He could hardly smell anything. 

“It is good to see you are awake,” Yixing said after a short time, “but as I told your alpha earlier, there is little I can do. Your wolf has recruited your body to fight off the poison. It fights it like a common virus rather than a magical affliction. It is up to your wolf to determine when the fever will stop. Sweating it out might speed up the process.” He looked up to Baekhyun. “And as always, as much fluids as he can handle.” Yixing’s voice was slightly muddled now that the ringing in Jongin’s ears had increased. It was becoming more and more uncomfortable keeping his eyes open.

“He hasn’t been able to keep down much in days,” Sehun said in a frustrated tone. “Even with your remedies! Can’t you bring us something new?” Baekhyun fixed Sehun with a look at the same time Yixing’s usual straight stare began to morph into a glare. Jongin tried to speak but none of them noticed. It was painful even just moving his jaw. He was scared and he knew Sehun could tell by the way the alpha’s hand naturally found his. But it wasn’t helping. Without his sense of smell he felt… alone, separated from everyone.

“I will not repeat myself again, Alpha Sehun. Your omega is dying. There is nothing anyone here can do about it except to try and keep him comfortable. You all knew the risk of having him travel. But now I must be on standby for any possible survivors. I am the head medic and can’t linger here.” 

Baekhyun and Sehun fell silent beside him as Yixing retreated, both turning back to try to cool him down and soothe his tensing body without answering the obvious.

“Wh…” Jongin managed to speak. “What… survivors?” His whole body lit up in pain as he couched bringing the wetness of blood to his throat. Positioned in the shade as they were, one look towards the bright sun showed him that it was past noon which meant he had been asleep for a long time, his body struggling and failing to recover from the previous day’s journey. 

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Sehun said.

“He _must_ know, Sehun,” the older omega objected before turning to meet Jongin’s gaze. “We received word a few hours ago that Fort Ignis has fallen. They say we are gradually being surrounded. The plan is to push forward tonight for the attack while hopefully managing to maintain this outpost. Many… many captures and casualties are to be expected.” 

Jongin looked at Sehun whose face was ashen, like Baekhyun voicing their situation aloud somehow made the threat much more real. Yet it was exactly as Sehun had suspected. All of Fort Ignis? Gone? With all its protective spells and towering walls? Jongin knew the humans also had sorcerers on their side. They were always the companion to a human Blood Rider. They were like the one lodger from all those years ago with a sickly complexion whose mere touch could get Jongin to do and feel whatever the man wanted him to do or feel. But with Fort Ignist filled with all those omegas who would be in no better shape to defend themselves than Jongin was now? The tragedy of what had occured dug into him but his eyes still remained painfully dry. 

“I’m going to quickly fetch more water while I can,” Baekhyun said, looking uncomfortable between them and excusing himself to go the same direction as Yixing. Jongin could feel the panic mirroring his own rising within his mate the longer Baekhyun’s words hung in the air.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Sehun said quietly, hands caressing Jongin’s face with the wet cloth. “You’ll be fine too. Your wolf will stop the fever. By tonight you’ll feel better and tomorrow I will bring you to Lake Argen. And I will fight. I’m ready to fight. I promise you. I…” With everything else seemingly falling apart from his ability to breath, to move, to smell, to see, Jongin felt his bond to Sehun expand once again before clearly in his head almost as if he were speaking, he heard Sehun’s next words from within him. “ _I love you. I believe what you say about our story being written in the stars. I believe in the future you see for us._ ” 

Jongin’s wolf who had remained still in his soul for days, curled up trying to protect Jongin’s human form from the worst of the pain, felt the words spoken through the bond too.

_“It hurts to speak.”_ Jongin attempted to respond. _“Can you… hear me this way?”_

“Yes,” Sehun said first aloud. _“I can hear you. I can feel you too. All of you. I’m going to fix this and I’m going to take care of you, just like when you had that snake bite.”_ Sehun dug a bit on the folds of his clothes and took out a familiar looking purple flower. “One of the sorcerers told me that violets don’t usually grow around here, but we walked past these yesterday.”

He let Sehun place the flower in one of his shaking hands but it hurt to tighten his grip on it so just like all those weeks ago, Sehun tucked it behind his ear instead. He felt Sehun’s small flicker of happiness at the sight, like for that one moment he’d been transported away from everything that was troubling him. 

_“It’s so pretty… my favorite,”_ Jongin spoke through to him. _“But Sehun, I need you to listen to me.”_ The simple wonder drained from the alpha’s face, bringing him back down to reality. _“The omegas left at Fort Ignis are the ones I’ve spent these past days with. Word of their fate hurts me deeply and knowin’ how close I was to sharin’ their same fate… I want you to know that I would rather die than be captured again. I will take my own life before I am captured again, Sehun. But as long as I am free, I will hold on for us no matter how much it hurts.”_

The more he spoke in this manner, the more he could feel the energy of his struggling body depleting, his vision blurring. His muscles kept constricting and the water Sehun was using on him was far too warm now to bring any comfort. His words, however, seemed to touch Sehun’s wolf, his irises beginning to brighten with red.

“I’m not going to bury anyone else,” Sehun said and Jongin flinched as gruesome images of Sehun’s slaughtered packmates began to materialize faintly in his mind, a much clearer image of Taemin’s destroyed body slowly disappearing beneath the mud of the marshlands. "And you are the one who said... who said that no matter what happens, we'll find our way back to where we need to be. So don't say that to me... don't say that to me." He gasped as his speeding heart was brought under control by Sehun’s measured breaths. Yet just as quickly as that intense connection had formed, it slipped away back to normal, the both of them staring at each other in shock. 

“Sehun!” The alpha turned to see Baekhyun hurrying back to them, slowing only when the bucket of water he’d managed to procure began spilling a bit over the edges. “You’re needed in the main gathering area. Quickly.”

Baekhyun’s stance became more cautious when he saw the state of Sehun’s eyes, looking down towards Jongin who still lay stunned at what had just happened. He wanted to say more to his mate but he found he couldn’t, the path to speaking through their bond seemingly shut and he knew it was Sehun’s doing. He knew it was Sehun shutting him out. It was like this that Sehun left him, the soft brown Jongin loved so much hidden behind irises of crimson.

Jongin’s fever did not subside but a more powerful concoction brought to them by Chanyeol quickly distanced him from the pain he felt and placed him back into his dreams looking from that treetop at the distant mountains, Brother’s lost stone no longer weighing against him.

Yixing waited all day from the observation platform built near the camp but no sign of survivors from Fort Ignis ever came.

Sehun stood guard as the selected soldiers began to leave their camp in groups spreading out to surround the ridges overlooking Lake Argen. 

Chanyeol came to Baekhyun just as Jongin, wrapped tightly in his blankets, finally began to break out into a sweat, the touch they shared briefly filled with understanding. 

When beneath the dusk colored the sky, all began to surrender to the land's nocturnal inhabitants, it was Junmyeon’s howl that first reverberated through the trees followed in succession one by one until Han’s rang out the closest. 

It was that which pulled Jongin from his simple dream to face the final moments of the setting sun, the Forest of Casia plunging into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!!!! ONE MORE CHAPTER AND AN EPILOGUE THEN WE OUTTA HERE!!!! (comments, feedback, criticisms, questions, etc as always are welcome - my writing style is sometimes unclear and I want to edit passages as quickly as possible if they cause unintentional confusion!!!!)
> 
> And I just double checked my word counts per chapter and oh my gosh they sure have been getting longer recently??? I'm sorry. That's what happens when I cram too much of my outline into the end of a predetermined allotment of chapters...
> 
> OTHER STORIES BY UNUSUAL_TABLE
> 
> [Two Minutes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24045196/chapters/57859369): Jongin was born just two minutes after Kai. It took him a long time to realize he didn’t need to spend the rest of his life trying to catch up. [TWINS!AU - CHANKAI, SEKAI]
> 
> [With Love, From Seoul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23371987/chapters/55999948): Kim Jongin was in search of a better life. His search began with Park Chanyeol. A story told in four acts. [MAFIA!AU - CHANKAI, CHENBAEK, SULAY, KRISHAN]
> 
> [Ghost Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366250/chapters/58764295): After Junmyeon’s life falls apart, he retreats to his family’s small home near Daegu. Sequestered in his little house on the hill, he soon finds himself acquainted with an odd mailman named Zhang Yixing. [THEATRE!AU - SULAY]


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